Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Furious backlash after Juncker calls MEPs ‘ridiculous’ Jean-Claude Juncker yesterday branded the European Parliament “ridiculous” after only 30 MEPs turned up to his speech in Strasbourg. Mr Juncker and Joseph Muscat, the prime minister of Malta, were speaking in the parliament. Malta, the bloc’s smallest member state, has just finished its term as holders of the six-month presidency of the EU. The European Commission president was furious that so few MEPs “bothered” to attend. – Telegraph EU parliament president Antonio Tajani urged the EU Commission chief to “change his language” after reminding Mr Juncker the Parliament controls the Commission. The furious row erupted on the floor of the bloc’s parliament in Strasbourg as MEPs looked on in shock. Mr Tajani said: “Mr President could you please have a more respectful attitude. “You may criticise the Parliament yes but the Commission does not control the Parliament it’s the Parliament that should be controlling the Commission.” He later interjected again and said: “Mr President I would ask you please to change your language. We are not ridiculous please, please.” – Express 6 best European Parliament bust-ups – Politico > WATCH : Juncker loses temper in EU Parliament Britain’s economy to outperform France, Germany and Eurozone A report from Oxford Economics predicts the UK will strive ahead of its Eurozone peers over the next five years.The UK’s economy is forecast to grow 1.8 per cent between 2017-2021 as Britain leaves the EU. By comparison the Eurozone’s economy is expected to grow 1.5 per cent with the EU’s economic powerhouse Germany to increase by just 1.3 per cent. According to the Oxford Economics’ forecasts France’s economy will grow 1.4 per cent with crisis-ridden Italy expected to go up 1.1 per cent. – Express Theresa May urged to rebuild business bridges for Brexit Theresa May has been urged by her former policy chief to step up her links with business leaders, amid an acceptance in Number 10 that the prime minister was cut off from corporate advice on Brexit before last month’s election. John Godfrey, Mrs May’s recently departed policy director and a former executive at Legal and General, the insurer, has proposed that a rotating cast of senior executives be assembled to meet the prime minister on a quarterly basis. This would be backed by standing committees conducting detailed work on issues facing industry. – FT (£) Repeal Bill to begin legislative journey next week Legislation to begin the process of transferring European Union law into British law will be presented to parliament next week, Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman said on Tuesday. The spokesman said Brexit minister David Davis had given colleagues an update on the “Repeal Bill”, which will shift EU legislation into British law as part of the Brexit process, at a weekly meeting of May’s top team of ministers. “He said the legislation, which is the start of the legislative process for Brexit, is expected to be tabled next week,” the spokesman told reporters. – Reuters Severing ties with the EU starts in days as transferring of laws to begin next week – Express Labour party calls on May to drop ECJ ‘red line’ The Labour party has called on Theresa May to drop her “ideological and deeply unhelpful red line” over the European Court of Justice in order to retain access to key EU organisations. Keir Starmer, shadow Brexit secretary, has urged the prime minister to seek to retain membership of groups such as the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Europol and Euratom. Writing to the Financial Times, Mr Starmer said it was important for Britain to seek a “co-operative future relationship” with the EU “not as members but as partners”. – FT (£) Labour calls on Theresa May to drop objection to Europe’s top court – Politico What Corbyn’s Fans Overlook: Labour Leader Is Still Pro-Brexit Rather than heed the calls of the pro-European young Britons who backed Labour at the ballot box and chanted at “Glasto,” Corbyn is sticking with a commitment to extract the U.K. from the bloc’s single market — something the Tories are doing too. In the end, there is not much separating his not-so-secret euroskepticism from the position of his rival. “He’s ambiguous, he’s not an enthusiast for the EU and never has been,” said Steve Fielding, who teaches politics at the University of Nottingham. – Bloomberg Furious MPs demand BBC draw up new code of practice to prevent ‘anti-Brexit bias’ The Sun can reveal a cross-party group met with the state-broadcaster’s head of news to complain about pro-Brussels coverage. The group included Tory backbencher Philip Davies, Labour MP Kate Hoey and the DUP’s Iain Paisley Jr. It comes amid growing fury at the BBC’s coverage since the bombshell Brexit vote a year ago. Analysis of a series of shows on Radio 4 last year found that listeners were two and a half times more likely to hear a pro-EU speaker than an anti-EU one. In a summit with Beeb boss James Harding yesterday, the MPs complained that any good news on the economy was almost inevitably followed by presenters saying “despite Brexit”. – The Sun EU send back British workers to avoid ‘sensitive’ Brexit meetings Some financial service experts from the UK working in the European Commission have even been sent back to London by bloc officials concerned they will overhear sensitive intel, which will be fed back to Britain. The revelation comes after the chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed Britain has been blocked from discussions surrounding the European Union’s (EU) future relationship with the UK. The Commission, headed up by Michel Barnier, has demanded employees from the UK civil service working on Brexit-related issues be moved to a different unit or relocated. – Express Jeremy Hunt: No warnings of EU nationals ‘fleeing UK’ Jeremy Hunt has been forced to deny he received warnings of EU nationals “fleeing the UK” after the phrase was spotted on a briefing note he was carrying. Press photographers snapped the document as the Health Secretary made his way into Downing Street. The document, which was exposed as Mr Hunt arrived for a Cabinet meeting, appeared to be a crib-sheet for answering expected questions from MPs. It included the phrase “Hard Brexit means people fleeing the UK”. – Sky News Jeremy Hunt photo appears to warn `people fleeing the UK´ after hard Brexit – PA Hunt memo: ‘Hard Brexit means people fleeing the UK’ – The Times (£) UK tech shrugged off Brexit with record VC investment The UK’s high-flying tech sector has shrugged of the fallout from Brexit notching up a record level of investment in the first half of the year. And London retained its tech crown ahead of rival cities in Europe, fresh figures from London & Partners and Pitchbook reveal. In the first six months of the year, more than £1.3bn was ploughed into UK tech by venture capitalists, and £1.1bn of that in London alone – more than any other six month time period over the last decade. – City A.M. French PM: progress in Brexit talks is pre-requisite to future EU-UK deals French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Tuesday that any talks with Britain over its future relationship with the European Union would come only after “orderly” talks over its exit from the bloc have been conducted. “Conducting orderly negotiations over the United Kingdom’s exit will be a pre-requisite for the future relationship’s framework,” Philippe told lawmakers. The EU’s negotiating guidelines prevent its chief negotiator Michel Barnier from opening any talks on the free trade agreement, which British Prime Minister Theresa May wants, until EU leaders decide “significant progress” has been made on a deal to settle key issues in the divorce. – Reuters Brexit is a ‘disastrous creature’ the EU ‘did nothing to stop’, says Malta’s PM Malta’s prime minister yesterday branded Brexit a “disastrous creature” that the European Union should have seen coming but did nothing to stop. Joseph Muscat appeared to rebuke other EU leaders over their handling of David Cameron’s demands for reform in Brussels before the referendum. Those reforms in areas such as immigration were watered down by the EU, damaging the prime minister’s campaign to keep Britain in the bloc. – Telegraph (£) Manchester Mayor Burnham demands bigger Brexit role for English regions England’s regions must be granted “a permanent seat at the Brexit table,” Greater Manchester mayor and former Labour minister Andy Burnham will say Wednesday, accusing the U.K. government of a failure to listen to regional concerns. Burnham will demand local and regional leaders are granted “equal footing” with those of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the U.K.’s overseas territories, according to extracts from a speech to the Local Government Association released to the media in advance. – Politico Lee Rotherham: Will the Government ensure that Brexit is the fisherman’s friend? During the election, Conservatives candidates looking for votes in the UK’s fishing communities were asked explain what they thought Brexit would mean to their industry. The party’s fisheries policy had been somewhat ambivalent in the past. The important questions were whether, after leaving the EU, the UK would still sign up to a modified set of arrangements that jointly managed fisheries stocks or zones. – Lee Rotherham for CapX Javier Fernández-Lasquetty: The future of Europe in the world Probably, the word that best describes Europe at this moment is “fear”. It is fear that many Europeans have come to feel. I’m not just talking about the fear of an Islamist terrorism that strikes wildly and repeatedly. I’m also talking about an unspecific fear, the feeling that everything is a threat. Globalization seen as a threat, progress seen as a threat, the evolution of everything – using Matt Ridley’s expression – seen as a threat. – Javier Fernández-Lasquetty for The Conservative Brexit comment in brief We need compromises to help us cope with Brexit – Evening Standard editorial The brave new world of Brexit Britain – Nick Cohen for the Spectator Brexit news in brief Vince Cable’s claims that Brexit has led to strawberry shortage is revealed as ‘fake news’ – Sun Brexit could boost London’s status as world’s legal centre – Evening Standard Andrea Leadsom demanded high-profile role as price of demotion – The Times (£) Skills gap to cost UK £90bn as Brexit piles on pressure – City A.M. UK ‘looks clueless’ over Brexit, claims ex-Chancellor Alistair Darling – BBC Fishermen still concerned they are ‘bargaining chip’ – Dorset Echo Denmark to decide on EU’s banking union membership after Brexit – Reuters Europeans can’t think of building a future without the Americans – Edward-Isaac Dovere for Politico France to propose new measures to lure City banks to Paris – Telegraph EU chief says he expects Britain to take part in EU plan to relocate refugees from Africa – Express Labour’s Claude Moraes claims British citizens living in Europe ‘could have their rights cut’, – Independent Justin Trudeau: EU-Canada trade deal is ‘model to the world’ – Politico