Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Theresa May dismisses Juncker dinner row claims as ‘Brussels gossip’… Theresa May has dismissed as “Brussels gossip” an account of a dinner with EC President Jean-Claude Juncker, published in a German newspaper. The pair reportedly clashed over Mrs May’s desire to make Brexit “a success” and whether the issue of protecting the rights of expat UK and EU nationals could be agreed as early as June. The Frankfurter Allgemeine claims Mr Juncker said: “I leave… 10 times more sceptical than I was before.” But Mrs May said it was “constructive”. And she told the BBC’s Ben Wright: “I have to say from what I’ve seen of this account I think it’s Brussels gossip.” – BBC News UK denies May and Juncker clash at Brexit dinner – Politico How Theresa May’s Downing Street dinner with Jean-Claude Juncker unravelled – Daily Telegraph Brexit dinner at Downing Street left a bitter taste – The Times (£) After dinner, the knives come out over Brexit – FT (£) Brussels factsheet reveals European Commission plan for four-week negotiation cycles – Daily Express UK must abandon ‘fairy tale’ ideas, says Germany’s Europe minister – The Independent Corbyn attacks May’s ‘megaphone diplomacy’ over Brexit – ITV News I fear Theresa May is negotiating us all towards Brexit disaster – Sir Keir Starmer for The Guardian EU and UK: Galaxies apart over Brexit? – Katya Adler for BBC News Why is anyone surprised the UK and EU do not agree about Brexit? – Dan Roberts for The Guardian …as the UK hits back at the European Commission over Brexit meeting leak… The British government has accused the European Commission of seeking to “punish” the UK over Brexit after the leaked account of a private dinner raised tensions between London and Brussels… “Juncker wants money but also wants to punish us — and deter any other member state from leaving,” a senior British government figure said. “He has been told we are willing to walk away without a deal, which is worrying him.” The official described the leak as “very foolish” because it was essential to conduct the Brexit talks in a spirit of trust. “That principle has now been breached,” the official said. – FT (£) EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker accused of ‘fabricating gossip’ over leaked account of Brexit dinner with Theresa May – The Sun Juncker can leak private talks. Or there can be a proper negotiation. But not both. – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome The EU’s spin about May and Juncker’s difficult dinner is calculated and heavy-handed – Christian May for City A.M. Jean-Claude Juncker’s leak of his talk with Theresa May is treacherous and one-sided – The Sun says Theresa May will stand up to the European Union’s bullying tactics – Daily Express editorial Brexit talks are turning nasty already. An impartial intermediary would be welcome – Daily Telegraph editorial …and leaked documents show the EU has been ‘secretly plotting’ to block Theresa May over EU migrants for weeks Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, is reported to have been “astonished” by Mrs May’s demand that an agreement be reached by the end of next month. But documents seen by this newspaper disclose that Mrs May made exactly the same demand to Donald Tusk, the European Council president, at a meeting three weeks earlier. The EU had privately decided to block any deal, leaked documents show, but did not want to reveal such a move publicly. EU leaders were accused of playing a “stupid game” and being more concerned about securing a financial deal than securing the rights of EU and British citizens… Diplomatic records show that at a meeting on April 11 Piotr Serafin, chief of staff to Mr Tusk, briefed all the officials present from the EU 27 that Mrs May had made clear the UK would seek a deal on expat rights “probably as early as June”. He added that this was probably “not feasible” but a source with direct knowledge of the meeting said: “Serafin warned everyone present that it was very important not to give the impression that the EU was blocking an early agreement on citizens’ rights.” – Daily Telegraph Brussels set for power grab on London euro-clearing Brussels is rushing out proposals to impose EU control on the City of London’s lucrative euro-clearing market, forcing UK operators to either relocate or be policed by European authorities. In a provocative regulatory salvo fired as Brexit talks begin, the European Commission is preparing to issue legislative proposals in June that would heavily restrict London’s ability to host one of its flagship financial businesses… British ministers see warnings to relocate clearing as impractical, economically unwise, and only likely to boost New York as a financial centre. Philip Hammond, UK chancellor, has warned that it would be at a “huge cost” to the European economy. – FT (£) > Peter Leahy previously on BrexitCentral: The EU’s attempts to drive euro derivatives clearing out of London post-Brexit are doomed to fail Recruitment essential for UK post-Brexit, warns British Chambers of Commerce Brexit negotiations shouldn’t divert the UK government’s attention from the challenges businesses are facing at home, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has warned. The BCC said the best Brexit deal “won’t be worth the paper it’s written on” if British firms cannot recruit staff with the required skills… It has also called for the status of EU nationals living in the UK to be protected and for an immigration system that was responsive to economic needs and to skills shortages at all levels… The BCC’s manifesto echoes a similar warning from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) which on Tuesday called on all major political parties to recognise the importance of migrant labour to the construction sector as part of its “Programme for Government”. – The Independent Brexit makes it more important than ever to address our home-grown skills shortage – Dame Ann Dowling, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering for the Daily Telegraph (£) Britain’s energy supply is in jeopardy after Brexit, claims Commons Business Committee The future of Britain’s power supply has been jeopardised by Brexit and the government must act urgently to ensure nuclear power stations stay open, MPs have warned. The influential business, energy and industrial strategy committee said that any gap between the UK leaving a European atomic power treaty and entering into secure alternative deals would “severely inhibit nuclear trade and research and threaten power supplies”. The cross-party group of MPs said it shared the nuclear industry’s concern that it would take more than two years to hammer out a new deal for regulating nuclear power stations and trade. – The Guardian Douglas Carswell: Jean-Claude Juncker’s leaks are the dirty games of a rattled European Commission Clearly the Eurocrats are still very angry. “Brexit cannot be a success,” Mr Juncker supposedly declared. What he really means is that he cannot allow Brexit to be a success… Yet if you examine what was said, it is Mrs May who, far from “living in another galaxy”, seems the more down to earth… None of this, however, has prevented some here in Britain from leaping on these anecdotes of acrimony – which, once again, have been deliberately leaked by the European Commission, and must therefore serve a tactical purpose – with a strange speed and fervour… These are often the same people who have spent much of the last year predicting failure for Brexit. They have accused Mrs May of behaving monstrously by not unilaterally conceding the right of EU nationals to live here, yet when confronted with evidence that it is the most senior EU official who is blocking such a deal, they are silent. – Douglas Carswell for the Daily Telegraph (£) Ross Clark: Eurocrats cannot afford to begin a trade war with us The EU is not an organisation committed to promoting global trade. It is a protectionist club which is scared of the possibility of having a roaring, open economy on its doorstep… Juncker is said to have waved at the Prime Minister a copy of the 2,000-page trade agreement between the EU and Canada. His point was to try to impress on her that a trade deal between Britain and the EU would be hugely complex and could take years to agree. Yet all he succeeded in doing was to draw attention to how cumbersome and bureaucratic the EU is when it tries to do business with the rest of the world… Juncker thinks by talking tough with Britain he can bring Europe together. The trouble is that what he is arguing for – Britain to be shut out of European markets unless it agrees to pay a huge “divorce” bill – is directly against the interests of many EU workers. – Ross Clark for the Daily Express Daily Telegraph: Tony Blair might think he is the centre-Left’s saviour, but he is all talk and no “hands dirty” action Now Mr Blair is lamenting the absence of a powerful centrist party and wants to “get his hands dirty” to confront “this Brexit thing” and avoid giving Theresa May a “blank cheque”… This smug sense of entitlement on the soft Left is one of its most irritating characteristics. It was evinced yesterday in a letter to The Guardian bizarrely signed by two of that newspaper’s own columnists as well as the usual suspects like Billy Bragg. “With the progressive vote split, the danger of a Tory landslide and all it means for our country now looms darkly on June 8,” they wrote, urging Labour not to stand in seats where the Greens have a chance of winning. There is a good deal of talk and letter-writing on the centre-Left and precious little in the way of action… If [Blair] is so convinced that the country is looking for a centre-Left saviour, why doesn’t he stand as an independent candidate in the election? Or is he only willing to get his hands dirty from a distance? – Daily Telegraph editorial Labour MPs call for pact with Greens, fuelling claims of ‘coalition of chaos’ – Daily Telegraph We’ll be sneered at, but a progressive alliance can win – Zoe Williams for The Guardian The Blairite plan to take over the Lib Dems – Stephen Pollard for Reaction Blair has nobody but himself to blame for Brexit and for the contempt in which he is held by the British public – Trevor Kavanagh for The Sun Christopher Howarth: Henry VIII would have coveted the EU’s powers – not these clauses in the Great Repeal Bill The White Paper on the Great Repeal Bill sets out the need first to transpose EU legislation into UK law, but also the need to amend certain parts of them to ensure they work in the new UK context. For instance, where there is a reference to an EU agency, the UK equivalent will need to be asserted. This is not controversial, and given there are around 19,000 EU laws it would be impossible to have a separate Act of Parliament for each one. Henry VIII clauses are not new; they have their root in legislation and are overseen by Parliament. It is therefore curious that one necessary part of the Great Repeal Bill – the power to correct or repeal EU legislation by secondary legislation (rather than by full act of Parliament) – should be singled out by opponents of Brexit as controversial, or be given Henry VIII’s name. – Christopher Howarth for ConservativeHome Brexit comment in brief A Conservative election win will not help Brexit negotiations – Nick Clegg for The Times (£) Red Box Is the balance of power in the southwest really tilting toward the Lib Dems? – Matthew Goodwin and David Cutts for The Times (£) Red Box Strengthen our hand in Europe? No, a landslide for May would weaken it – Ian Birrell for The Guardian A simple people’s Brexit plan can replace May’s flawed strategy – Paul Mason for The Guardian Will Brexit renew Vauxhall’s revolution fever? – Frederick Studemann for the FT (£) An agricultural revolution? – John Redwood’s Diary May must seek a mandate for more than just Brexit in this election – Lord Flight for ConservativeHome Yes, immigration really was to blame for Brexit – Matthew Goodwin for CapX Emmanuel Macron has taken French voters for granted. Now he risks defeat – Olivier Tonneau for The Guardian Apres Macron, le deluge: This is the European elites’ last chance to avert disaster – John Hulsman for City A.M. Brexit news in brief Storm clouds gather over EU unity as bloc forms camps for showdown over post-Brexit budget – Daily Express Alistair Darling dismisses Jeremy Corbyn’s chances and condemns ‘Brexit and Scottish nationalism’ – Daily Telegraph Greece agrees deal with creditors on bailout reforms – FT (£)