Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Philip Hammond calls for close EU alignment post-Brexit… Philip Hammond has called for a soft Brexit with only ‘very modest’ changes to Britain’s relationship with the EU in a significant intervention in Davos. In a speech to business leaders the Chancellor praised a call by the CBI for Britain to have the “closest possible relationship between the EU and UK post-Brexit”. He said: “We are taking two completely interconnected and aligned economies with high levels of trade and selectively moving them, hopefully very modestly apart.” – Telegraph Financial services must be part of EU trade deal, says Hammond – The Times (£) Theresa May disowns Hammond’s remarks as MPs rebel over Brexit – Guardian …as Jacob Rees-Mogg attacks Government’s ‘cowed’ Brexit approach… Influential Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg will criticise the government’s Brexit strategy later in a speech calling for a fundamental change in ministers’ tone. The backbench MP will accuse UK negotiators of being “cowed by the EU” and warn against Brexit being treated like a “damage limitation exercise”. People “did not vote for the management of decline”, he will say. “They voted for hope and opportunity and politicians must now deliver it.” His speech later comes ahead of Brexit Secretary David Davis setting out his goals on Friday for a transition period once the UK has left the EU. Mr Rees-Mogg has recently become the chairman of the European Research Group of Conservative MPs. – BBC My Brexiteers will not accept a new customs union, Jacob Rees-Mogg claims – The Times (£) ‘Timid’ Theresa May faces challenge to leadership from pro-Leave MPs – Telegraph (£) Theresa May’s Tory leadership faces fresh Brexit revolt – Independent > On BrexitCentral today: Full text of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Brexit speech from last night …and demands an end to new laws during the implementation period… Jacob Rees-Mogg has urged David Davis not to accept new laws during the implementation period ahead of the Brexit Secretary’s major speech later today. Rees-Mogg, the leader of the European Research Group (ERG) of backbench Eurosceptics has urged him to resist committing to new EU laws. Speaking in an interview with BrexitCentral, the MP for North East Somerset said: “We should not accept new laws that come in from the EU during the implementation period, Full Stop. “If it’s an implementation, why should it be implementing new laws?” – BrexitCentral Just a few weeks after Tory MPs were praising Theresa May for negotiating her way through phase one of the Brexit talks, the mood has suddenly darkened. Last night the flag of rebellion was raised by Jacob Rees-Mogg as the arrangements for the transition to the UK’s departure from the EU became a serious fault-line in the Conservative Party. The Somerset MP, who chairs the European Research Group of backbenchers, clashed on Wednesday with David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, at a Commons committee hearing. – Telegraph editorial (£) …before David Davis sets out his EU transition hopes in a speech today Brexit Secretary David Davis is to deliver a speech on the transitional arrangements the UK hopes to negotiate with the EU after it leaves. This relates to the time-limited period that will come after Brexit day but before the final relationship kicks in. The BBC understands Mr Davis will say on Friday that the UK wants to be free to negotiate and agree trade deals with other countries during this period. These could then be signed as soon as the transition period ends. He is also expected to say the UK wants to stay in the EU’s existing trade deals with other countries – although there is no guarantee Brussels will agree. – BBC Party chiefs also tried to halt Davis’ speech – The Sun Jeremy Hunt says UK should have almost identical market access to EU after Brexit Britain should be able to agree an almost identical level of market access to the European Union with a free trade agreement after Brexit because the two sides start from a point of regulatory alignment, the health minister said on Friday. Jeremy Hunt was asked about Britain’s future trading relationship with Europe after finance minister Philip Hammond called for a modest Brexit that would keep Britain as closely aligned as possible with the bloc after its 2019 exit. – Reuters Boris Johnson reportedly ‘preparing to oust May’ over fears UK will be tied to EU Boris Johnson is preparing to launch a bid to replace Theresa May as Tory leader and Prime Minister, a cabinet minister has told the Express. The Foreign Secretary is said to be concerned over the “direction of travel” with Brexit amid fears that the UK could be shackled to Brussels for much longer in a transition deal. A Brexit supporter said that a challenge to Mrs May “could come in weeks” before the local elections which many in the party expect to be a disaster for the Conservatives. Previously, it was thought that nobody would dare challenge Mrs May ahead of an election but the MP suggested that the party had “already written off” the council elections. – Express EU’s negotiating guidelines for the Brexit transition leaked to Channel 4 News The transition on offer is every bit as annoying to Jacob Rees-Mogg and fellow Brexiteers as he was signalling at the Brexit Select Committee yesterday. There is only a limited right for Britain to even make an appearance at meetings where the U.K. will have no voting rights. The U.K. nonetheless has to follow all EU laws including any new ones that might pop up (the government says the EU law-making process is so slow there won’t be any surprises on that front – Mr Rees-Mogg begs to differ). The document also makes clear that the U.K. has to abide by existing EU agreements with third countries, which covers many areas but not least among them are the 50 or so trade agreements that have been signed by third countries with the EU. – Channel 4 How BBC kept Leavers off the air for a decade Pro-Brexit voices are being drowned out on the BBC’s news programming, an analysis has claimed. Only a very small proportion of speakers on Radio 4’s Today programme are long-term supporters of leaving the EU, the Civitas think-tank said in a report. The authors claimed the BBC has been unable to supply an example of a single programme since the June 2016 referendum which has examined the opportunities of Brexit. Last night the BBC described the analysis as flawed and insisted it was ‘covering the process towards Brexit in a responsible and impartial way’. The Civitas report, entitled The Brussels Broadcasting Corporation?, said that for the past 20 years the BBC has consistently viewed the issue of withdrawing from the EU through the prism of splits in the Conservative Party. – Daily Mail No defence left for the BBC – damning figures that prove Brexit bias – David Keighley for ConservativeWoman > David Keighley on BrexitCentral today: The BBC has been marginalising pro-Brexit views for years Lords flex their muscles as EU Withdrawal Bill returns… A group of Lords will next week demand that the government amend its “constitutionally flawed” EU Withdrawal Bill, as it returns for its second reading. The Constitution Committee is planning to publish its third report on the controversial bill on Monday, one day before the latest debate stage begins. Although the full details have not yet been released, it is expected the report will raise a number of issues including questions around legal certainty related to retained EU law, the appropriateness of delegated powers for ministers, and the devolution implications of the bill. – City A.M. …but Brexit minister warns peers of ‘legal chaos’ if they wreck the Bill Steve Baker said that blocking the passage of the EU (Withdrawal) Bill would not stop Brexit, but instead mean Britain would have “holes” in its statute book on the day it leaves the bloc. He issued the warning in an interview with the House magazine just days before the House of Lords finally gets its chance to scrutinise the legislation. Ministers are braced for a series of defeats at the hands of Remain-backing peers who are eager to amend the bill in order to deliver a softer Brexit. – PoliticsHome France and Ireland split over Britain’s future… The EU’s uncompromising and united stance on Brexit has begun to unravel after European leaders in Davos offered deeply conflicting accounts of what sort of deal may eventually be possible. While France instantly shot down fresh demands from Chancellor Philip Hammond for a bespoke accord that includes financial services, Ireland floated the option of a “Norway Plus” arrangement that better reflects the unique nature of Britain’s relations with Europe. – Telegraph (£) …but US is ready for an ‘attractive’ UK trade deal… US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has reinvigorated talk of a free trade deal with the UK following Brexit. It follows worries that Britain’s “special relationship” with the US had cooled. Mr Mnuchin said Britain would still be at the “front of the queue” for a bilateral free trade deal following the exit from the European Union. “As soon as the UK is ready we will be prepared to negotiate an attractive trade deal,” he told the BBC in Davos. – BBC …after Trump predicted a ‘tremendous increase’ in UK-US trade President Donald Trump has predicted a “tremendous increase” in UK-US trade, after talks with Theresa May. He also said the US and UK were “joined at the hip” on military matters, while Mrs May said they stood “shoulder to shoulder” in facing shared threats. In a series of warm exchanges in Davos, Switzerland, President Trump also told the UK PM: “We love your country.” He also rejected “false rumours” of differences, saying that the two leaders “like each other a lot”. And Downing Street said later that they had asked officials to work on “finalising the details of a visit by the president to the UK later this year”. – BBC > Watch on BrexitCentral’s Youtube Channel: Trump on ‘tremendous’ increase in trade with UK Michael Spicer: Move over Ukip, Jacob Rees-Mogg and the ERG are now the real Brexit watchdogs I set up the European Research Group in July 1993 towards the end of the Maastricht furore. It comprised Conservative Members of Parliament who were concerned about the direction being taken by the European Union towards becoming a federal state. The Group was formed on the presumption that the most effective way of at least modifying this process was by working internally within the Conservative Party rather than, for instance, setting up a rival party such as Ukip. We hired my Research Assistant, Daniel Hannan – now MEP – as our co-ordinator/researcher. – Lord Spicer for the Telegraph (£) The Sun says: Chancellor Philip Hammond is the enemy of Brexit Philip Hammond is the enemy of Brexit. Theresa May must not let her blundering Chancellor orchestrate a betrayal of the Leave vote. The fact that Hammond will revel in his praise from Remainers and his Europhile chums at the CBI shows what a roadblock he has become.What he is suggesting, despite all his boss has said, is staggering: that we should have the softest of Brexits, a “very modest” tweak to current arrangements. That his priority is “all the benefits of the complete alignment of our regulatory systems, the complete integration of our economies”. On immigration controls, he wants “to maintain the closest possible relationship” with the EU. – The Sun editorial Brexit comment in brief Number 10 is unwise to bash Boris: he is a winner, a game changer, a political superstar – Mark Fox for Reaction Mrs Merkel, Mr Macron and free trade – John Redwood’s Diary Is Europe no longer a second-order issue in national elections? – Enea Desideri for Open Europe Rees-Mogg and Johnson have a point – Brexit may indeed be pointless – John Stevens for ConservativeHome Don’t relax yet about the Brexit transition, Mr Davis: the EU threatens to make it messy – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) We self-righteous Britons should stop deluding ourselves. Trump represents the best of Brexit – Jeremy Warner for the Telegraph (£) Brexit news in brief Mandelson’s secret vow to help Brussels in Brexit talks – Daily Mail Chopper’s Brexit Podcast: The CBI is wrong on Brexit because it is listening too much to big business, says Digby Jones – Telegraph Coveney and Ahern question Davis’s grasp of Brexit issues – The Times (£)