Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Theresa May launches last-ditch bid to cut a Brexit deal with Labour and dodge Euro elections wipeout… Theresa May is set to take personal charge of talks with Labour in a desperate bid to thrash out a Brexit deal, it emerged today. The PM is expected to kickstart the negotiations with Jeremy Corbyn as she returns from her Easter break tomorrow. Mrs May is anxious to cut a deal which will stop Britain taking part in next month’s EU elections – with the Tories on course for a humiliating defeat. Earlier this month the Tory leader announced she was opening talks with Labour to find a compromise agreement on Brexit. But the two sides haven’t yet struck a deal as they remain divided over the key question of whether Britain should stay in the customs union. With no agreement in sight, Mrs May had to sign off on a delay to Brexit until October – meaning the UK is on course to take part in the European Parliament elections on May 23. A No10 official told the Financial Times: “Speed is of the essence here if we are to get something agreed and through both houses. We want to avoid the European elections so we need a resolution as soon as possible.” – The Sun Cross-party talks to resume as Theresa May faces fresh pressure to quit – Independent …as MPs prepare to warn May she will be forced out over her Brexit failure if she fails to name her departure date… Theresa May will be told by her own MPs to name the date of her departure or face being ousted in June after the Conservative Party’s patience with her finally ran out. Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, will tell the Prime Minister that the party is preparing to change its rules to make it easier to throw out unpopular leaders if they refuse to go. Backbenchers have already set June 12 as the date Mrs May will be forced out if she does not comply – exactly six months on from the day she fought off the last attempt to depose her through a confidence vote in her leadership. One MP summed up the mood in the party by saying Mrs May will be told that she cannot “Superglue herself to Downing Street like the eco-warriors”. Tory MPs will return from their Easter break on Tuesday with the anger of constituents still ringing in their ears, and facing a huge new threat from Nigel Farage’s increasingly popular Brexit Party. – Telegraph (£) …while the Tory grassroots trigger an emergency meeting of senior activists over the ‘farce’ of May’s failure to deliver Brexit A Tory grassroots plot to force Theresa May into quitting has secured enough support to trigger an emergency party meeting for a no-confidence vote. The Prime Minister’s failure to secure Britain’s exit from the European Union has unleashed a furious uprising in the party. Last night the threshold needed to demand an extraordinary general meeting of the party’s national convention, the most powerful body representing the rank and file, was reached. Sources involved in the plot said the petition had been backed by at least 65 constituency association chairmen after the Prime Minister’s “spectacular failure to deliver” Brexit. “It’s a farce,” they added. “If she’s not capable of doing the job, then somebody come forward that is because this just can’t go on.” It will be at least a month before the meeting can be held and the results of the confidence vote will not be binding on the Prime Minister. But losing the support of the party’s volunteers, who give up their free time to knock on doors to rally support, would heap pressure on her to go. It comes amid a slew of devastating polls for Mrs May as she prepares for local and European elections next month. – Express Tories just weeks from ‘no confidence’ vote in May after local party chairmen back unprecedented poll – Telegraph (£) Tory Leavers most in danger of losing seats as MPs endure Easter ‘recess from hell’ Prominent Leavers including former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith face losing their seats at the next general election as Brexiteers prepare to punish the Conservatives at the ballot box with voters threatening to boycott the local and European elections over the UK’s delayed departure from the EU. New analysis by ComRes suggests the Tories stand to lose 41 seats, with 29 Leave MPs set to be ousted as voters switch to Labour, the Liberal Democrats and SNP following a public backlash against Theresa May in Conservative heartlands. MPs canvassing for the forthcoming elections described enduring the Easter ‘recess from hell’ as irate supporters bad-mouthed Mrs May on the doorstep, threatened to spoil ballot papers and sent their polling cards back to their local councils in protest. The latest polling data suggests that if a general election was called tomorrow, Labour would win the most seats with 290, versus 277 for the Conservatives meaning Jeremy Corbyn would have to rely on the SNP’s 47 seats (up 12 from 2017) to prop up a Labour minority government. – Telegraph (£) 40% of Tory councillors back Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party… Theresa May has been warned that she is presiding over the ‘death of the Tory Party’ after a devastating poll revealed the immense scale of the grassroots revolt against her. The exclusive Mail on Sunday survey shows that an astonishing 40 per cent of Conservative councillors are planning to vote for Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party in May’s European elections, in protest at the Prime Minister’s failure to conclude the UK’s exit from the EU. Three-quarters of her own councillors want Mrs May to resign – and an overwhelming 96 per cent believe that the Tory Party has been damaged by the impasse. – Mail on Sunday …as grassroots Conservatives refuse to take part in European election campaign… Grassroots Tories are refusing to take part in next month’s European election campaign in protest at the delay to Brexit. In an extraordinary show of defiance, the Conservative group on Derbyshire County Council has effectively voted to go on strike. They have refused to knock on doors or deliver leaflets in support of Tory MEPs, saying they will not take part in the elections because they ‘should not be happening’. And they warned Theresa May they expect Conservative councillors across the country to join their Brexit revolt over the next few days. Barry Lewis, leader of the Derbyshire Tories, told the Prime Minister she should quit over her agreement with the EU to delay Brexit until October 31. – Daily Mail Theresa May faces threat of new confidence vote after European elections amid Brexit backlash – Telegraph (£) We Derbyshire Conservatives will take no part in European elections that should not be taking place – Barry Lewis for ConservativeHome …and Liam Fox warns the EU they will end up with ‘50 angry and disruptive British MEPs’ if the Euro-elections go ahead The EU will end up with 50 “disruptive and resentful” British MEPs if it forces the country to take part in elections to the European Parliament next month, Liam Fox has warned. In an interview with The Telegraph, the pro-Brexit International Trade Secretary pointed out that the parliament, which is due to elect the next European Commission president later this year, “will have an effect on the formation of the next commission”. “The last thing our European partners want are 50 disruptive and resentful UK MEPs,” he added. Dr Fox’s comments are a tacit acknowledgement of growing support for the Brexit Party, the pro-Leave group founded by Nigel Farage, that is fielding a full slate of candidates in the May 23 elections. Support for the party has been put as high as 27 per cent. – Telegraph (£) Nigel Farage vows to cripple Labour by targeting the party’s Brexit voters… Nigel Farage has vowed to cripple Labour by targeting its Brexit voters after a bitter clash with the party’s deputy leader. Tom Watson blasted the anti-EU campaigner and his new Brexit Party for being on the “far right” yesterday. The outburst came as he accused his boss Jeremy Corbyn of being “mealy mouthed” and “sitting on the fence” over its support for a second Brexit referendum. Labour must offer a People’s Vote to defeat Mr Farage’s “backward-looking brand of politics that offers no solutions”, Mr Watson insisted in a withering attack on the hard left Opposition boss in the Observer. In a bid to hold his bitterly divided party together, Mr Corbyn has insisted a new nationwide poll is only an emergency final option to halt a hard Brexit. But angry Mr Farage hit back to accuse Labour’s deputy chief of having “broken his promises to the people”. – The Sun …after Tom Watson claims pledging a second referendum is the only way for Labour to beat Farage… Labour will never defeat Nigel Farage if it continues to “sit on the fence” over Brexit and offers only “mealy-mouthed” support for a second referendum, the party’s deputy leader says today. In an extraordinary intervention that exposes the tensions at the top of the party over Brexit strategy, Tom Watson warns that Labour will lose to Farage’s new “far right” Brexit party in May’s European elections if it continues to give the impression that “we half agree with him”. Writing in today’s Observer, Jeremy Corbyn’s deputy argues that Labour needs to give much clearer and more enthusiastic backing to another referendum and also spell out a positive, radical vision of how a Labour government could advance socialist values by working with other centre-left parties inside the European Union. Stressing that Farage is a real threat not just to the Conservatives but also to Labour, he writes: “We cannot just sit back, watch this fight on the far right, and allow Farage to prosper with a backward-looking brand of politics that offers no solutions. Instead we must offer a radical alternative based on our values that speaks directly to the people we represent and demonstrate Labour has a way forward out of the crisis.” He adds: “Labour won’t defeat Farage by being mealy-mouthed and sounding as if we half agree with him. We won’t beat him unless we can inspire the millions crying out for a different direction. We won’t win if we sit on the fence about the most crucial issue facing our country for a generation.” – Observer Stop being ‘mealy-mouthed’ on Brexit and back a second referendum, Tom Watson tells Jeremy Corbyn – Telegraph (£) …as EU-obsessed Labour peer Andrew Adonis is unveiled as MEP candidate Andrew Adonis, a vehemently pro-Remain politician, has been selected to stand for the European Parliament elections as a Labour candidate — despite the party’s formal pro-Brexit position. The peer, a former cabinet minister under New Labour, is on the party’s south-west regional list of candidates for the May elections. He said that if he won he would “immediately suspend” his membership of the House of Lords in line with recent precedent. “It is absolutely vital that we win and show that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party is the only alternative to a ruinous hard Tory Brexit.” The announcement is eye-catching because the peer is a leading figure in the People’s Vote campaign which is advocating a second referendum. – FT (£) Theresa May is forced to abandon plans for a major Cabinet reshuffle because of the latest Brexit delay Theresa May has been forced to abandon plans for a major Cabinet reshuffle next month because of the Brexit delay. The new blow to the PM’s survival hopes comes as it emerged that three out of five party members plan to refuse to vote Tory in the euro elections. Close allies had urged the PM to carry out a big clear of her ageing top team. The move would have helped fend off calls for her to resign immediately after an expected local election meltdown on May 2. Ushering in a younger generation of Tory MPs to the Government’s top ranks could have kept the PM in No10 until December, Cabinet allies argued. But the new six-month delay to Britain’s EU exit until October has plunged Mrs May into a fresh crisis and destabilised her yet further. A senior No10 source told The Sun: “A reshuffle is going to be impossible now. Things are just too precarious. “The last thing we need is any more enemies on the backbenches.” – The Sun British people have filled almost all new jobs in UK since Brexit vote, says Government Britons have filled nearly all of the new jobs created in the UK since the 2016 referendum and businesses are “clearly already adjusting” to lower EU immigration, the Government has said. Alok Sharma, Employment Minister, said the number of EU nationals joining the workforce since the Brexit vote in 2016 had fallen to fewer than 35,000. But in the two years before the referendum more than 410,000 EU citizens joined the workforce. That means between 2014 and 2016 EU nationals accounted for almost half of the UK’s growth in employment but since then they are responsible for just five per cent. Despite the fall, there is now more than one million extra people in work in the UK since 2016. Mr Sharma said that was because unemployed Britons and so-called “returners” – people who left work for childcare or health reasons who could now go back to work – were now bolstering the employment numbers. He said: “While EU nationals accounted for almost half (over 45 per cent) of the UK’s growth in employment between 2014 and 2016, since 2016 that has fallen to five per cent. – Telegraph (£) Nicky Morgan: Why the Northern Ireland backstop need not be permanent – and leave no hard border when it ends It feels as if the whole nation has benefited from the relative peace on the Brexit front since Parliament started its Easter recess. But as MPs return to Westminster tomorrow, it seems unlikely that the calm can hold (although our local election campaigners doubtless wish that it would). Of course, if 34 more Conservative MPs had voted to support the Withdrawal Agreement, Brexit would have taken place on March 29th as promised, the Brexit debate would have moved on – and the contest for the next leader of the Conservative Party would probably be starting formally. Instead, some of my fellow Conservative MPs are collecting signatures to try to hasten the departure of John Bercow from the Speaker’s Chair. Others are working with “Stand up 4 Brexit” to try to change the leadership rules to hasten the departure of Theresa May. Others still state categorically that the EU Parliament elections cannot be allowed to take place – and yet the law is clear that they must, because the UK is still a member of the EU. The ability of MPs to miss the bigger picture is, I believe, what is making the nation even more furious with us. – Nicky Morgan MP for ConservativeHome Nigel Farage: Britons no longer just want to leave the EU – they want to change politics for good by smashing the two-party system The rapid rise of the Brexit Party in the polls just days after we launched formally has sent a shiver down the spine of the Conservative Party. This sense of apprehension is well deserved, as far as I am concerned. The omens for Theresa May do not look good. Take Councillor Barry Lewis, the Conservative leader of Derbyshire county council. On Friday, he confirmed that his group recently supported a motion not to take part in the European elections on May 23. Just think about that. The faithful servants of one of the oldest political parties in the world are on strike. They refuse to go out and canvass, such is their anger – and, no doubt, sheer embarrassment – at the appalling mess created by our dishonest prime minister. I am sure that the Derbyshire Tories will not be alone in their protest. But just as worrying for the party is the sort of people it plans to field next month. The lead Tory candidate in the North West region is Sajjad Karim. He is an ardent Remainer and an advocate of a second referendum. In London, the situation is even worse. Charles Tannock, number two on the party’s list in the capital, is such a fanatical supporter of the EU that he is on record as having said he is “ashamed to be British” because of the Brexit result. Indeed, he has now secured an Irish passport. These are mere snapshots but they illustrate how horribly confused and divided the Tory party has become. That its principal players are happy to make such anti‑democratic pronouncements is even more troubling. Along with Boris Johnson, I doubt that many potential leadership candidates will dare to go out pounding the streets over the course of the next few weeks. Frankly, you can’t blame them. – Nigel Farage MEP for the Telegraph (£) Madeline Grant: Andrew Adonis running as an MEP perfectly sums up the nature of the Brussels gravy train The year 2019 is already shaping up to be very strange indeed. A group of vegans has brought London to a shuddering halt. Politicians of all persuasions have ignored the largest democratic mandate in British history. Aston Villa has a serious chance of promotion. But perhaps the most astonishing development has been the sight of serial appointee Lord Adonis participating in the democratic process. This week the Labour peer, a former policy adviser to the Blair government, announced his attention to stand as an MEP in the South West, where he will face off against Annunziata Rees‑Mogg (expect fireworks). Hedging his bets, perhaps, Adonis has agreed to “suspend”, rather than “resign”, his seat in the House of Lords while doing so. Adonis, a railway fanatic, well understands the charm of two gravy trains getting up to steam at the same time. – Madeline Grant for the Telegraph (£) Stewart Jackson: The ‘last Brexiteers standing’ will now do everything to stop a sell-out customs union The irreducible core of those Brexit heroes in Parliament who have thrice resisted the lies and blandishment of No 10 in order to put country before career and party, look set to be strengthened in the next few weeks, due to the sheer incompetence of their foes. The PM’s Withdrawal Agreement is not some kind of a comfort letter but a legally binding international treaty, which would be the subject of years of UK-EU rancour and dispute. It was and is Brexit in Name Only. Mrs May is betting the ranch on doing a shabby deal with Labour to attach a customs union in any Withdrawal Bill she pushes through the Commons, thus alienating the vast bulk of her Parliamentary party. I suspect that the number of those unable to stomach such a repudiation of their manifesto promises will increase significantly. – Stewart Jackson for the Telegraph (£) Barry Lewis: We Derbyshire Conservatives will take no part in European elections that should not be taking place We did something this week which I never imagined we’d do. Certainly something I never wanted to do. The Conservative Group I lead at Derbyshire County Council overwhelmingly supported a motion to not take part in supporting the European Elections, and I wrote to the Party Chairman to let him know our position on the matter. This was not an easy decision to take, and goes against every natural instinct we have as Conservatives to support our hardworking MEPs and candidates, but we were promised, following the largest public mandate ever received, that we would be out by the 29th March. – Barry Lewis for ConservativeHome Matthew Goodwin: 2019 will be Nigel Farage’s year – and the Tories’ annus horribilis Nigel Farage is back. Less than three years after Britain voted for Brexit and Farage left politics to ‘get his life back’, the former leader of UKIP and now leader of the Brexit Party has been forced to return to the ring. Angered by the ‘betrayal of Brexit’, Farage looks anything but the ageing prize-fighter. I’ve known him for seven years and today he is as energetic, ambitious and confident as he’s ever been. And he is cutting through. Though only launched a week ago, the Brexit Party is already surging in the polls, can claim more than 100,000 registered supporters and is tearing large chunks off the Conservative Party’s electorate. Farage’s political instincts and timing were always underestimated. Now, he is tapping direct into a reservoir of frustration among Leavers who feel utterly cut adrift from Mrs May’s vision of Brexit, her failure to keep ‘no deal’ on the table and decision to lend credence to Jeremy Corbyn, a man who they were only recently asked to believe posed a major threat to their national security. – Matthew Goodwin for the Telegraph (£) Leo McKinstry: Booming economy is something to celebrate – Brexit will make it better It was not meant to be like this. Before the 2016 EU referendum, an army of politicians and experts told us a vote for Brexit would be a disaster for the British economy. According to this doom-laden narrative, unemployment would rocket, the country would slide into recession and the property market would collapse. So far all those predictions of catastrophe have proved baseless. Contrary to the hysterical propaganda of Project Fear, the economy has proven astonishingly resilient. This week the latest report from the Office for National Statistics revealed Britain’s jobs miracle is continuing, with unemployment at the lowest level since Harold Wilson was in power in 1975. In the three months to February this year, the total number of people in work rose by 179,000, an increase partly fuelled by ever greater numbers of women joining the workforce. Yet all sectors of society benefit from this employment boom. Over the same period, the number of disabled or ill people who are economically inactive fell by 7,000. Moreover, despite all Labour’s synthetic outrage about insecurity and zero hours contracts, the vast majority of new jobs, 138,000 of them, are full-time. All this good work will be undone if Corbyn achieves power, with his dreams of welfare expansion, mass nationalisation and confiscatory taxation. That will not happen if the Tories finally fulfil their promise and deliver Brexit. The strength of the economy shows Britain is ready for independence. – Leo McKinstry for the Express Brexit in Brief We have long needed a new relationship with the EU. My fellow MPs must deliver it – Robert Courts MP for the Telegraph (£) Will Theresa May’s plan for a ‘Stormont veto’ over the Irish border backstop help win support for her Brexit deal? – John Rentoul for the Independent Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party spells end of Ukip but will come at the expense of the Tories – James Forsyth for The Sun Remain politicians are handing the advantage to Nigel Farage – Chris Coghlan for The Times (£) NHS officials claim May’s post-Brexit immigration strategy could close 25 per cent of some NHS hospital services – Telegraph (£) Brexit has delivered a boost to British composers, Classic FM poll shows – Telegraph (£) BBC pundit and ex-Communist to stand for Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party as he vows to win millions of Labour votes – The Sun