Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Boris Johnson will make it illegal to extend the Brexit transition period beyond 2020… Boris Johnson will make it illegal to extend the Brexit transition period beyond the end of next year as he fired the opening salvo to the crucial trade talks with the EU. The PM will include the provision in the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) when he brings it back to the Commons for the crucial vote on Friday. The WAB will finally implement Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal so Britain leaves the EU on January 31, triggering an 11-month ‘implementation period’ whereby EU rules will still apply here but the UK will have no role in making decisions. The WAB states that the transition period – due to end in December 2020 – can be prolonged by up to two years if both sides agree. – The Sun Boris Johnson to legislate to rule out extension of EU ‘transition’ – ITV News …prompting critics to accuse him of ‘recklessly’ putting the prospect of No Deal back on the table Boris Johnson has put the prospect of a no-deal Brexit firmly back on the table, by introducing a legal provision to bar him from extending negotiations on a trade deal with Brussels beyond the end of next year. The move was branded “reckless” by Liberal Democrat interim leader Sir Ed Davey, who warned it risked sending the UK “straight off the no-deal cliff”, threatening jobs, the environment and the NHS. The ban, to be included in the Withdrawal Agreement Bill tabled in parliament on Friday, will prevent the prime minister from buying extra time if trade talks are not completed within what most experts regard as an extremely tight timescale. Last week a leaked recording revealed that Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, believed the timetable was “unrealistic”. He told MEPs: “We will not get everything done in 11 months.” – Independent Boris Johnson’s Brexit plans will place a no-deal exit firmly back on the table – iNews Tories to appoint Brexit supporting experts as peers in a bid to balance the ‘Remainiac’ House of Lords Boris Johnson is planning to beef up the House of Lords with Brexit-supporting experts to create a ‘working’ upper chamber, according to Tory insiders. Lawyers, trade specialists and environmental gurus are expected to be elevated to the peerage in the coming days and weeks as the government seeks to strengthen its hand before passing more Brexit legislation through both Houses of Parliament. Among those tipped for promotion are Zac Goldsmith, the former Tory MP who lost his Richmond seat to the Liberal Democrats on Thursday, trade expert Shanker Singham, Brexit lawyer Martin Howe QC and Johnny Leavesley, a businessman who chairs the Conservatives’ Midlands Industrial Council donor group. It came as Nicky Morgan, who stepped down as an MP when the election was called, was last night offered a peerage to continue as Culture Secretary. A party source said: “It is being discussed in Downing Street. It’s time now to take the Lords on at its own game. They need more people in there to make the case for Brexit. Martin Howe’s name is in the frame, as is Shanker’s.” – Telegraph (£) Emily Thornberry warned Labour in September of the dangers of a neutral Brexit stance… Emily Thornberry warned privately in September that Labour’s election chances would be hampered by taking a neutral position on Brexit. Speaking at the party’s conference, for a BBC film being broadcast on Tuesday, she said she was worried about Jeremy Corbyn saying he “didn’t have a view” on the biggest decision facing the UK. She was “really pushing” at the time for Labour to openly back Remain. Labour’s defeat has led to a bitter internal row over its Brexit policy. Some Labour candidates who lost their seats have blamed the party’s offer of another referendum for their defeat alongside doubts about Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. Ms Thornberry, who is expected to be a candidate in the contest to succeed Mr Corbyn, revealed on Monday that she had begun legal action against a former colleague who claimed the shadow foreign secretary called some Leave voters “stupid”. – BBC News …as she threatens Caroline Flint with legal action over ‘stupid Leave voters’ claim Labour’s civil war may end up in court after frontbencher Emily Thornberry yesterday vowed to sue an ousted colleague for claiming she called Leave voters “stupid”. She said the accusation made by Caroline Flint, who lost her Labour seat, was a “complete lie”. Ms Flint publicly claimed Ms Thornberry had told another MP in a Leave-voting seat: “I’m glad my constituents aren’t as stupid as yours.” Angry Ms Thornberry, expected to challenge for the Labour leadership when Jeremy Corbyn steps down, said: “One of my former colleagues came out and said the most extraordinary lies about me. I contacted her and said ‘Please withdraw. I will give you until the end of the day.’ And she hasn’t. So I’ve had to go to solicitors. People can slag me off. As long as it’s true I will take it on the chin. But you can’t make up sh*t about me. And if they do, I have to take it to the courts. I would never even think that, let alone say it. It’s a complete lie.” – The Sun Gleeful Boris Johnson poses with his new Tory MPs in Westminster after thrashing Labour at the General Election A gleeful Boris Johnson posed with his “Blue Wall” of Tory MPs last night — and hailed their “incredible achievement”. He greeted 109 new House of Commons colleagues who demolished Labour’s Red Wall in last week’s General Election. The PM told them to work “flat-out” to repay the trust of first-time Tory voters. He said they had “not only changed the political map of this country but you’ve changed our party for the better”. Standing in front of the newbies at Westminster Hall in Parliament, Boris was seen chuckling after Bosworth MP Dr Luke Evans shouted: “Merry Brexmas.” – The Sun Britain’s banks could withstand worst-case Brexit, finds Bank of England All of Britain’s top lenders could weather the worst-case scenario in the event of a no-deal Brexit, or a financial crisis worse than the 2008 crash, new figures have shown. The banking sector is “resilient to and prepared for the wide range of UK economic and financial shocks that could be associated with a worst-case disorderly Brexit,” the Bank of England said on Monday. It means that banks could keep on lending throughout a potential financial crisis, however some might have to cut spending to stay afloat. “All seven major banks and building socs in the test not only withstood the shocks, but were able to continue lending,” said Bank governor Mark Carney. – Belfast Telegraph Activist is jailed for 28 days for harassing Remainer ex-MP Anna Soubry with tirades that branded her a ‘traitor’ A Brexit activist has been jailed for 28 days for harassing former Remainer MP Anna Soubry and leaving her so frightened she refused to be alone in public. Amy Dalla Mura, 56, targeted the former Conservative MP, 62, as she gave an interview to BBC Newsnight at Westminster’s central lobby. She also left Ms Soubry ‘rattled’ when she yelled questions and refused to leave during a question-and-answer session at a London hotel a few weeks earlier. Ms Soubry said the second incident in Parliament on 14 March took place on the night of a crunch Brexit vote and left her ‘afraid to be alone in public’. Donald Trump supporter Dalla Mura, of Hove, East Sussex, was convicted of harassment between January and March this year. – Daily Mail Tim Stanley: Britain’s cultural elite think those of us who voted for this Tory landslide are thick racists Come election day, I knew the Conservatives would triumph: coworkers, friends and my mother will confirm that I predicted a Tory majority of 40 seats plus. It was based on gut. I woke up that morning and thought: “The British might be eccentric but we’re not mad. Jeremy Corbyn cannot win.” But right up to election day, a lot of us were worried he might – even though the polls told us he was facing a drubbing. Why the disconnect? One answer is that Britain might be a moderate country but our cultural establishment is liberal-Left. We live submerged in a culture that is at odds with most people’s values, yet it does its best to convince us that we are “the few” and they – the comedians, the actors, the academics, the artists – are “the many.” They have turned us into strangers in our own land. – Tim Stanley for the Telegraph (£) Telegraph: Thank the voters for ridding us of this grandstanding Parliament The House of Commons returns today, and one of the most striking changes will be who is no longer there. John Bercow is tending to his new career as a television personality, replaced as Speaker by the less self-aggrandising figure of Sir Lindsay Hoyle. From Dominic Grieve and David Gauke to Sir Oliver Letwin and Philip Hammond, the ex-Tory rebels are out, either losing their seats in doomed bids to win as independents or having pre-emptively decided to leave politics for good. Those Conservatives who defected to the Lib Dems to campaign for a second referendum all failed in their attempts to re-enter Parliament. Remainer Labour MPs for Brexit areas, meanwhile, were kicked out in their dozens. – Telegraph (£) editorial Brexit in Brief How the Tories can convert their majority into decades of dominance in the North – Lord Hague for the Telegraph (£) No delay to full exit at end of 2020 – John Redwood’s Diary How the Brexit Party affected results in the North East in the general election – ChronicleLive Boris Johnson to redraw electoral map to consolidate majority – Telegraph (£)