Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team John Bercow blocks latest attempt to prevent no-deal Brexit John Bercow has blocked a fresh attempt to prevent no deal Brexit. The speaker put a stop to the amendment masterminded by Dominic Grieve and Dame Margaret Beckett which planned to deprive key public services of funding if there was a no-deal Brexit. The pair wanted MPs to vote to stunt funding to the Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions, Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as the Department for International Development, if the UK crashed out of the EU with no deal. Mr Bercow’s rejection of the amendment makes it the second failed attempt in recent time by the Commons to stop No Deal. Dame Beckett and Mr Grieve, the former attorney general, tabled the amendment to two motions today, linked to the approval of Government spending for the Department for International Development and the Department for Education. – Telegraph (£) Remainer plot to stop no-deal Brexit by cutting off schools spending rejected by Speaker John Bercow – The Sun Jeremy Hunt says he will abandon talks with EU a month early and focus on No Deal if he has failed to persuade Brussels to renegotiate… Jeremy Hunt has vowed to “cease all discussions” with Brussels at the end of September if it has failed to budge on Brexit and let the UK crash out of the EU a month later. In a dramatic ramping up of his Brexit threats, the foreign secretary pledged a comprehensive no-deal plan by the end of August, with all civil service leave cancelled. And he said, of the new 30 September deadline: “If my judgement is that there is no deal to be done, I will immediately cease all discussions with the European Union and focus the whole country’s attention on no deal preparations.” The move is a clear attempt to outflank Boris Johnson, who remains the clear favourite to win the Tory leadership race after his vow to leave the EU on Halloween “deal or no deal”. – Independent Jeremy Hunt vows to trigger No Deal Brexit on September 30 if EU does not budge – The Sun > On BrexitCentral: Jeremy Hunt sets out his 10-point Brexit delivery plan – full text > WATCH: Jeremy Hunt’s speech on his Brexit plan to Policy Exchange …as he claims Angela Merkel is willing to look at a new deal… Tory leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt has claimed to have been told by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, that she would be willing to look at any new Brexit the next British PM comes up with. It came as his rival, Boris Johnson, was heckled at a garden centre and accused of misrepresenting the ideas of a 14th century Tunisian scholar after claiming he could cut taxes and increase revenue. Meanwhile, pro-Jeremy Corbyn organisation Momentum has launched a fresh drive to unseat Mr Johnson – who could not name the amount paid under the living wage during his latest TV interview – at the next general election. – Independent …and pledges £6billion no-deal Brexit war chest while Boris Johnson’s supporters say he will end public sector pay freezes Tory leadership contender Jeremy Hunt says Britain must get on with Brexit. The Foreign Secretary used a speech in Westminster to say: “Uncertainty is bad for business… and bad for our country.” Mr Hunt said that if he becomes prime minister he will decide on September 30 whether there is a realistic chance of getting a Brexit deal through the Commons. The Foreign Secretary said if he did not think there was sufficient movement from the EU by that date he would increase efforts to cope with a no-deal exit. Mr Hunt pledged to create a £6 billion war chest to handle a no-deal Brexit, while Boris Johnson’s supporters say he will end public sector pay freezes. – ITV News No-deal Brexit poses a ‘real threat’ to Union, suggests Liam Fox… Scottish independence and Irish reunification are “real threats” of leaving the European Union without a deal, a leading Brexiteer has warned. Liam Fox, who attacked remainers for “hysterical prophecies of doom” in the weeks before the Brexit referendum, has now said the Union, Northern Ireland, fishing and farming are under threat. Dr Fox, the international trade secretary, is backing Jeremy Hunt in the race to become prime minister. Mr Hunt has warned his opponent Boris Johnson’s “do or die” Brexit deadline of October 31 is reckless if it means leaving without a deal. He was challenged on BBC Radio 4’s Today on whether no deal Brexit could lead to Scottish independence and a border poll to reunite the island of Ireland. – The Times (£) …while Philip Hammond tells leadership contenders a no-deal Brexit would mean no money for their pledges The chancellor has warned the candidates vying to replace Theresa May that there will not be enough cash to meet their spending pledges if Britain leaves the EU without a deal. Philip Hammond told Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt that they would have to abandon their promises to spend more money on public services or to cut taxation unless they could reach an agreement with Brussels. Both Mr Hunt and Mr Johnson have said they are prepared to take the UK out of the bloc without an agreement. At the last budget Mr Hammond allocated £26 billion to be held in reserve to deal with the immediate aftermath of a no-deal Brexit. He said that if an agreement could be reached, this money would be freed up to spend on other priorities. – The Times (£) Boris Johnson could shrink Cabinet by half and merge departments to save billions of pounds Boris Johnson is considering proposals to shrink the size of the Cabinet after key backers urged him to slim down the Government if he becomes prime minister. Mr Johnson has already voiced a desire to merge the Department for International Development and the Foreign Office, but supporters are encouraging him to go further by reviewing the future of seven or more other departments to save billions of pounds. The departments for Justice, Business, Culture, International Trade, Work and Pensions, Transport, and Brexit could all be abolished or merged with other departments under plans being championed by members of Mr Johnson’s team. Among those backing Mr Johnson’s campaign who are in favour of cutting the number of departments are Dominic Raab, the former Brexit secretary, Andrea Leadsom, the former leader of the house, Chris Heaton-Harris, the former Brexit minister, Liz Truss, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and Priti Patel, the former international development secretary. – Telegraph (£) Emmanuel Macron decries ‘tainted’ EU after Brussels fails to agree an heir to Jean-Claude Juncker A furious Emmanuel Macron criticised the “profoundly tainted” EU on Monday, after divided leaders failed to break the deadlock over who should succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as European Commission president despite 20 hours of intense overnight negotiations. “We ended the day on what we can call a failure. It’s a very bad image we are giving of the Council and Europe, no one can be satisfied with what happened over so many hours,” the French president said. “Our credibility is profoundly tainted with these meetings that are too long and lead to nothing, we give an image of Europe that isn’t serious,” he told reporters at the Brussels summit as he openly vented his frustration at the deadlocked process. – Telegraph (£) Martin Howe: We don’t need a withdrawal agreement for a deal with the EU Most people assume that a deal with the EU would mean getting some changes to Theresa May’s thrice-rejected withdrawal agreement (WA). This kind of deal faces three huge problems. First, timing. Negotiating changes to the WA with the EU, and then getting the necessary legislation through Parliament in time to leave the EU on Oct 31, would be quite impossible. The 175-clause Bill (still kept under wraps) is a horror story packed with contentious clauses. It effectively unrepeals the 1972 European Communities Act, and gives supreme status in our own courts to the WA and the EU laws which it applies to the UK. Opposition parties and the Tory ultra-Remainers would make havoc – opposing or delaying the Bill in the hope of again deferring our exit from the EU, or, worse, hijacking it by inserting amendments: such as for permanent customs union membership, or a second referendum. Even on the optimistic assumption that the changes to the WA were enough to bring on board the DUP and the Tory opponents of the WA, it is hard to see that the Bill would ever get through in unmolested form, let alone by Oct 31. – Martin Howe QC for the Telegraph (£) Jacob Rees-Mogg: The EU is corroding our Union; Boris and Brexit will revitalise it and damage the cause of Scottish nationalism Boris Johnson has declared that if he were to become Prime Minister he would also be the Minister for the Union. This would be both symbolically and practically important. The symbolism is that it would show how crucial the Union is to a conservative understanding of our nation. The four parts which make one stronger whole. Devolution is a crucial evolution of how power is exercised but it does not undermine or replace the unity of a single country that not only has so much shared history but current common interests. This is the practical side which needs the Prime Minister’s focus to ensure that the authority that will return from the European Union is used effectively for the benefit of the United Kingdom. – Jacob Rees-Mogg MP for the Telegraph (£) Asa Bennett: Jeremy Hunt’s bid to match Boris on Brexit risks turning him into a sad tribute act Tory members will be receiving their postal votes this weekend, which means Jeremy Hunt is fast running out of time to persuade them to elect him, rather than Boris Johnson, as their next leader. Judging by the latest polls of the membership, the Foreign Secretary is already too late. Surveys showing Mr Johnson has a lead of as much as 36 per cent should dispel any idea that an outbreak of Huntmania is about to sweep him aside. What is holding Mr Hunt back? Brexit. He knows that Tory members are wary of having another Prime Minister who backed Remain during the referendum wrestle with Brexit, which is why he sought to make up for it by rushing as one of Theresa May’s ministers to publicly declare his support for leaving the European Union. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Charles Day: The EU was never capable of dealing with Brexit We are now meandering towards a real Brexit deadline. In typical British fashion, we’ve let the other two times that they bumped into us with their trolley in the supermarket go. In similarly typical fashion, the third time is about to be “not on”. But as we head towards the inevitable, it is worth understanding the simplest of truths: the EU was never capable of dealing with Brexit. And an even bigger truth must be whispered very quietly: they can’t conclude Free Trade Agreements. We turned insular immediately after the vote. We blamed ourselves and began a long internal debate which almost never mentioned the EU – just a lot of class warfare and Godwin’s law. But a Withdrawal Agreement (WA) is – and was – a distraction. It is not needed in any comparable treaty. – Charles Day for The Spectator Sean O’Grady: Not Johnson, Farage or Corbyn: This is the one man doing more than anyone to make Brexit happen Jeremy Hunt has vowed to “cease all discussions” with Brussels at the end of September if it has failed to budge on Brexit and let the UK crash out of the EU a month later. In a dramatic ramping up of his Brexit threats, the foreign secretary pledged a comprehensive no-deal plan by the end of August, with all civil service leave cancelled. And he said, of the new 30 September deadline: “If my judgement is that there is no deal to be done, I will immediately cease all discussions with the European Union and focus the whole country’s attention on no deal preparations.” The move is a clear attempt to outflank Boris Johnson, who remains the clear favourite to win the Tory leadership race after his vow to leave the EU on Halloween “deal or no deal”. – Sean O’Grady for the Independent Tim Stanley: In the race to replace Juncker, the EU’s sleight of hand reminds us why we voted Leave The Remainers say “we didn’t know what we were voting for!” and, fair enough, lots of Brexiteers didn’t. But neither did Remainers. Back in 2016, they couldn’t say who their MEPs were or what the EU Council is or name any of the commissioners – and that’s a problem because democracy only works when you understand how it works and who is working it. The EU is a sham democracy. That’s the real reason Britain voted to leave, and the row over the next President of the EU Commission suggests that we’re getting out just in time. Brexiteers are accused of being obsessed with the Second World War, but the Europeans live very much in the shadow of Hitler and the terror of a return to fascism. The EU was constructed by men who were frightened of their own voters, so they cooked up a structure in which democracy is checked by a self-selecting, bureaucratic elite – a bit like the philosopher kings in Plato’s Republic or the clerics in Iran. – Tim Stanley for the Telegraph (£) Brendan O’Neill: Remoaner MPs’ charge to take No Deal Brexit off the table is a Grieve-ous act to wreck democracy If there was a prize for political hypocrisy, Dominic Grieve would win it hands down. Grieve, the Tory MP for Beaconsfield, is a leading Remoaner. And like other Remoaners he has spent much of the past three years whipping up panic about the dreadful impact Brexit will allegedly have on our country. A No Deal Brexit — or “crashing out of the EU”, as Remoaners dramatically call it — would be especially bad, he says. For three years the Brexit-bashing set have spread mad fears about how leaving the EU without a deal will turn the UK into a hellhole in which medicine will run out, food will be scarce and there could even be “violent unrest” as the starving masses struggle to survive. Make no mistake, they say, a No Deal Brexit will plunge the UK into chaos. – Brendan O’Neill for The Sun Andy Street: However Brexit is resolved, Britain must rediscover the radical devolution that made it great Two years have passed since six mayors were elected to lead the great cities and regions of England. In bringing these combined authorities into being, the Government kicked off the devolution revolution in England. Now is the time to go further and faster, seizing the opportunity to empower our cities, their leaders and the people who live in them. We are launching a new report, “Empowering English Cities”, today at Birmingham’s Town Hall, a symbol of municipal pride and self-reliance, with Labour and Tory mayors from across the country. Our mayors have made good progress already, each approaching the job in their own individual way, and with their own city-region’s priorities in mind. – Andy Street for the Telegraph (£) The Sun: Jeremy Hunt’s plan to keep No Deal as a fallback and get Britain as ready we can makes total sense Jeremy Hunt will probably never deliver his Brexit plan. A pity, since it makes sense. The EU has to know for the first time that we are serious about leaving with No Deal if Brussels maintains the fiction that it cannot offer anything more. Their deal with Theresa May is dead. Ireland’s posturing PM Leo Varadkar loves hearing himself say Britain must swallow it — but our MPs won’t. So Hunt is right to say that if nothing else is forthcoming by September 30, we will end negotiations and spend a month making final preparations for a rocky exit. An emergency Budget. Huge sums found to keep certain industries afloat. Civil service holidays scrapped. Hunt, though, is unlikely to become PM. And if he does we doubt even he believes he would preside over No Deal. – The Sun says Brexit in Brief With so much at stake, only one of the Tory contenders has what it takes – Lord Hague for the Telegraph (£) Don’t let discredited doom-mongers undermine Brexit – Douglas Carswell for CapX “We don’t believe you” – the public is getting ever more frustrated with the MPs who say it is too difficult to just leave the EU – John Redwood’s Diary Sorry, Mr Hunt – Leavers simply can’t trust you to deliver Brexit – Tom Harwood for the Telegraph (£) Swiss stock market shrugs off losing EU access – Telegraph (£)