Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Amber Rudd slapped down by Downing Street after refusing to rule out UK staying in customs union after Brexit… Amber Rudd has been rebuked by Downing Street after she suggested the Government was “still working on” its policy over a future customs union with the EU. The Remain-supporting Home Secretary admitted she is now fighting for her political future as Brexiteer Tory colleagues questioned whether she was fit to remain in her post… The minister later clarified her comment by tweeting that “of course when we leave the EU we will be leaving the customs union”, but she noticeably failed to rule out joining any form of customs union. Downing Street issued a stern rebuttal of her position, saying the Government was “absolutely clear and without ambiguity that we are leaving the Customs Union and won’t be joining a customs union…Are we leaving the Customs Union? The answer is categorically yes.” – Telegraph Amber Rudd was accused of deliberately widening Tory divisions over Brexit yesterday as she became embroiled in a new political row. The home secretary admitted that she was fighting for her career after a second week of turmoil caused by the Windrush scandal… Both friends and opponents suspect that Ms Rudd, who campaigned vigorously to remain inside the EU and is pushing for the softest possible Brexit in private, was deliberately encouraging a Tory rebellion on membership of the customs union. One cabinet minister said: “I think she spoke her mind.” A Tory ally of the home secretary said: “I think Amber has decided to throw caution to the wind. She’d have known the media would all pick up on [the remark]. I think a lot of people in government are willing us on.” …Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, is understood to have contacted at least one Brexiteer by phone to reject the suggestion that the cabinet had left open the option of remaining in the customs union, according to a source. – The Times (£) Amber Rudd fighting to ‘stay in the game’ as she triggers fresh row on Brexit – Sky News Amber Rudd suggests customs union position ‘not final’ – BBC News …as Brexit war cabinet prepares to thrash out customs arrangements next week… Ms Rudd’s explosive intervention comes ahead of a key showdown of the Cabinet’s Brexit committee next week over the Customs Union. It infuriated Downing Street, revealing that stark and long-running tensions are still raging at the very top of the government. And it also fuelled Brexiteers’ suspicions that former Remain campaigners Ms Rudd and Chancellor Philip Hammond are secretly trying to pressure the PM into a U-turn on the landmark policy, in a bid to also solve the Irish border dilemma… Tory MP Brexit backers remained livid with her. Senior backbencher Peter Bone said he “could not understand why Amber Rudd did not support government policy to leave the Customs Union”, adding: “We cannot have a Home Secretary not supporting this key plank of Brexit”. – The Sun …with May under pressure to drop ‘customs partnership’ proposal after opposition from both Brexiteers and Brussels Senior government figures say there is a “clear consensus” and some expect No 10 quietly to drop the plan before a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. David Davis, the Brexit secretary, and Michael Gove, the environment secretary, are said to be opposed to the so-called customs partnership. Boris Johnson and Liam Fox, the foreign and international trade secretaries, are openly hostile to the idea. One source said: “David Davis has been with those cabinet ministers wielding the knife. I think the Brexit war cabinet next week will be its final outing but it’s basically dead.” Another said: “There is a growing consensus that it just doesn’t work. It’s already been rejected by Brussels and the Brexiteers.” However, one government figure said: “I don’t think it will get support as it is but you could see [No 10] trying to come up with a customs partnership 2.0.” – The Times (£) Cabinet Brexiteers push Theresa May to drop customs partnership – Guardian Davis and Gove feud over fishing transition deal – Bloomberg Customs partnership tick tock tick tock tick tock… – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome May under renewed Tory pressure over customs union after symbolic Commons debate… Ten pro-European Conservative MPs had already signed an amendment that called on Britain to stay in a customs union, a move intended to maintain frictionless trade with the EU and to help ensure there is no return to a hard border in Ireland. Two former Tory ministers who had not signed the amendment, Ed Vaizey and George Freeman, spoke in favour of closer ties with the EU in a Commons debate on the customs union on Thursday, an indication of growing unrest among Tory Remainers… The government could be defeated if around a dozen Tory MPs vote with the opposition Labour party on the issue later this year. – FT (£) > WATCH: Ed Vaizey in 2016: Leaving the single market and customs union isn’t hard Brexit – it’s Brexit …as mutinous MPs told they risk ‘undermining faith in democracy’ over Customs Union Tory Brexit rebels were last night told they risk “undermining faith in democracy” after boasting they have the numbers to force Britain to remain in the Customs Union. Insiders claimed 13 Tory MPs are ready to rebel when the Government brings a Trade Bill to the Commons — enough to threaten Theresa May’s slender majority. Rebels said victory would spur them to force the PM to keep Britain in the Single Market. Tory MP Matt Warman said: “I would say to my colleagues, democracy must come first. What people voted for, whether some in this place like it or not, is a clean break because that is what allows us to have the control that people voted for.” – The Sun > WATCH: Tory MP Simon Clarke says remaining in the Customs Union would be a “breach of faith” with the referendum result > WATCH: Labour MP Kate Hoey accuses people of using the customs union issues to restart the process of stopping Brexit Michel Barnier rubbishes Labour and Remainer claims that Britain can have a bespoke customs union deal… Earlier, he had warned Britain it will lose its ability to strike its own trade deals if it stayed in the EU’s customs union, insisting Brussels would not bend its rules for Britain… As Remain-supporting MPs in Westminster maneuvered to keep Britain in the customs union, Mr Barnier said : “We can’t change our rules, our rules will remain the same. When you’re in a customs union for goods, like Turkey for example, you become part of a common trade policy. You don’t have autonomy anymore. This is a decision the UK Government has to take.” – Telegraph (£) EU won’t adapt customs union rules to suit Britain, Barnier says – Bloomberg …as he claims that the EU doesn’t need the City of London The EU does not need the City of London, and Theresa May’s “pleading” for a special deal for the UK’s financial services sector will not be rewarded, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has said… “Some argue that the EU desperately needs the City of London, and that access to financing for EU27 business would be hampered – and economic growth undermined – without giving UK operators the same market access as today,” Barnier said at a meeting of finance ministers in Sofia, Bulgaria. “This is not what we hear from market participants, and it is not the analysis that we have made ourselves.” – Guardian Michel Barnier says the EU does not desperately need the City but is confident London will remain “a global financial centre” – City A.M. EU to City of London: Expect no Brexit favours, we don’t need you – Bloomberg Barnier rebuffs UK hopes of special financial services access – FT (£) Michel Barnier: UK risks financial crisis if it diverges from EU regulation – Politico FCA’s Bailey slams EU’s post-Brexit plans for asset managers – FT (£) Switzerland announces it wants a newer, bigger trade deal with the UK post-Brexit… Switzerland handed Theresa May a Brexit boost yesterday by announcing it wants to strike a bigger trade deal with the UK after we leave. In a statement the Swiss Government said it wants to roll-over the existing trade deal Britain currently enjoys as a member of the EU. It said it “wishes to ensure that the existing mutual rights and obligations will continue to apply after the UK leaves the EU”. And delivering a major win for the UK and a blow for Brussels, the statement added it wants to “expand these rights and obligations if possible”. The Swiss Government has set up a new group to fast-track a bumper trade deal. – The Sun …as Australia says it will not force UK to accept hormone-treated beef in Brexit trade deal Australia’s outgoing High Commissioner has poured scorn on claims that a post-Brexit trade deal can only be struck if the UK accepts imports of hormone-treated beef. Alexander Downer, a Eurosceptic who leaves Australia House this week after four years in post, dismissed the fears as a Brexit “myth.” “For a free trade agreement with the UK, food safety issues are unlikely to be an issue at all,” Mr Downer told the Telegraph. “The Australian government has never raised the issue of hormone-injected beef with the British government and nor has the Australian beef industry made any representations to us in support of exporting hormone injected beef.” … He went on to complain that the debate about agri-food had been hijacked by environmentalist groups who created the impression that non-EU member states had inferior food hygiene standards… “Where do they get this idea from? We have a longer life expectancy than the UK, people aren’t being poisoned by food produced in Australia. On the contrary, we have much more fresh food on our shelves than you have in the supermarket.” – Telegraph (£) Nicola Sturgeon accused of ‘dancing on the head of a pin’ to avoid Brexit Bill deal Nicola Sturgeon is “dancing on the head of a pin” to find reasons to reject the UK Government’s Brexit Bill to try and whip up support for independence, Ruth Davidson has said after the Welsh reached a deal. The Scottish Tory leader said the First Minister had won a series of major concessions but was still refusing to sign up to the agreement because she was working in the “nationalist interest” rather than the “national” one… The row intensified after the Welsh government split away from the SNP on Wednesday and reached an agreement, leaving Ms Sturgeon isolated amid widespread rumours that she overruled her Brexit Minister in rejecting a deal. – Telegraph (£) > Brian Monteith yesterday on BrexitCentral: Nicola Sturgeon is playing a high-stakes Brexit power game Steel entrepreneur Sanjeev Gupta to launch ‘post-Brexit’ bank for industry Steel entrepreneur Sanjeev Gupta plans to launch a “post-Brexit bank” that will help the industrial sector expand into developing economies as Britain leaves the EU. Mr Gupta’s GFG Alliance group has agreed to buy the UK arm of Nigeria’s Diamond Bank, which will be renamed British Commonwealth Trade Bank (BCTB). The new business – which will apply for a UK deposit-taking licence – will focus on providing finance to industrial supply chain businesses as they take up the Government’s challenge to build trade with new markets following Brexit… The entrepreneur said GFG had a “long history in trade with the Commonwealth” and the new bank would leverage this, describing Britain as “a nation of traders”. “Post-Brexit, there will be a heightened need for competitive financing for British companies in the commodities and industrial sectors as they seek to grow in new markets globally,” Mr Gupta said. – Telegraph James Forsyth: Theresa May should fear a Brexiteer who feels betrayed The EU, for its part, sees the Irish border as a way to keep Britain in the customs union and closely aligned with European rules on goods and agriculture. This would be quite a result for Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator. He would have succeeded in delivering the Brexit that works best for the EU. Britain would be unable to chart its own course and no threat to the European economic model. ‘Permanent vassal state’ is how one government insider describes it. Mrs May has repeatedly been clear that she wants Britain to leave the customs union. But Brexiteers remain extremely worried that Britain will end up in a de facto customs union with the EU long after December 2020. They fear that many of those around the Prime Minister would be quite happy if this were to happen. They fear that a lost parliamentary vote on the issue, which is by no means impossible, will be used as the pretext for doing this: that it will be sold as a necessary compromise. If Mrs May is to win meaningful parliamentary votes on the customs union, she’ll have to be prepared to make it clear that she’ll quit if the Commons goes against her. Only that message will make enough of the Tory rebels back down. Mrs May, who isn’t yet willing to make this threat, would be well advised to do so for both policy and political reasons. – James Forsyth for the Spectator Ray Bassett and Graham Gudgin: In their desperation to stop Brexit, Remainers are peddling rubbish about Ireland In the last few months, the issue of the Irish border has been used and abused by those who see it as the best last hope to frustrate Brexit. Yet very few of those who have expressed grave concern over the matter have spent much time familiarising themselves with the details. The issue is complicated but it is not insoluble. So as pressure mounts today in Westminster to force the UK Government to stay within the Customs Union, the EU Commission and the Irish Government are working in tandem to support their Remainer allies in London, using the Irish border as their weapon. – Former Irish Ambassador Ray Bassett and Dr Graham Gudgin for the Telegraph Irish prime minister: Progress on border needed by June EU summit – Politico A group of paramilitary veterans say Brexit won’t derail the peace process and violence won’t return – Simon Carswell for the Irish Times WATCH: Top Irish official explains how soft Irish border can work after Brexit Tom Slater: The Customs Union con isn’t about the economy or Northern Ireland – it’s about weakening Brexit This isn’t about trade or the economy or peace on Belfast’s streets. It’s about weakening Brexit, if not bouncing us back into the EU entirely. The Customs Union proposal is purposefully abysmal, because, if agreed, it would reopen the case for full membership. The day after May’s capitulation, the line from Remainers would be: ‘Okay, we’re in the Customs Union – but why be a rule-taker, when we could be a rule-maker?!’ How a nation trades with other nations is a fundamental sovereign matter, and the No1 issue for Brexit voters was sovereignty. Caving in on the Customs Union would be a bad enough blow to the Brexit spirit. But this barely veiled scheme is even more treacherous. We must call it out for the con that it is. – Tom Slater for spiked Allister Heath: Britain’s elites have a glorious history of absorbing inevitable change. If they rob the people of Brexit, it’s over Without understanding what he was doing, [Cameron] was putting the British establishment to its greatest moral and practical test in decades. How would it cope with a (possible) Leave vote? Would it accept the verdict, and find it in itself to fight for the best possible exit for Britain? Would it implode in a morass of incompetence? Or would it go rogue, embrace a weird ultra-elitist identity-driven class war, and declare the end of the UK’s long and glorious experiment with democracy? And if it did embark on such a reckless course, what did it think the response from an already disillusioned public would be? A shrug, or something a little more robust? It was a gigantic experiment and, 22 months on, we are still no clearer on the results. The chances of Brexit being stopped keep on rising, as a result of a lack of leadership, competence and commitment and the efforts of an extraordinary Remainer counter-offensive. If MPs, in a moment of madness, decide to keep us in the customs union, robbing us of much of the possible upside of Brexit, or if the Government decides that it will use the Irish question as the excuse to surrender, then all bets will be off. – Allister Heath for the Telegraph (£) Greg Hands: Never mind Brussels, we should focus on trading with Asia Last year UK exports increased by 12.2 per cent, driven in large part by increasing trade beyond the EU where there is growing appetite for the expertise our companies can offer. The ASEAN nations are a prime example of this – ten countries that saw and embraced the mutual benefits of free and open trade to their own people, in tackling poverty and building their economies. Today the ASEAN bloc looks set to become the fourth largest economy in the world by 2030, behind only the USA, China and EU. What’s remarkable is that this progress has been achieved without the need for a customs union or a common external tariff enforcing a uniform trade policy. The ASEAN nations can make their own trade agreements tailored to the needs of their industries and consumers, such as Singapore’s powerhouse financial services, while agreeing with one another to lower barriers and tariffs overall. – Trade Minister Greg Hands MP for The Times (£) Tim Congdon: Project Fear was £100bn out It turns out that Project Fear was wrong by almost 5 per cent of GDP. The consequences of this giant error for the rest of the Osborne/Treasury prognosis have been drastic. Instead of employment falling by hundreds of thousands, it has risen by hundreds of thousands. Instead of house prices going down, they have gone up. Instead of the public finances lurching more heavily into deficit, they have been better than at any time since the Great Recession, making the prospect of an eventual surplus far from silly. Above all, Osborne’s scary rhetoric about a return of the Great Recession now looks preposterous. Despite all his supposed capability, he could not have been more wrong. Further, the grotesque misjudgment was not about something distant from his department’s area of responsibility. This was a subject where Osborne had direct ministerial accountability and which was perhaps the defining public-policy issue of his career. The failure of Project Fear raises wider constitutional questions, particularly about the role of the Civil Service in modern government. – Tim Congdon for Standpoint Comment in brief Half-in, half-out is not a viable ‘soft-Brexit’ compromise – it is suicide – The Sun says Germany’s global dominance may no longer be a safe bet – John Redwood MP for City A.M. Britain’s record in keeping people out of long-term unemployment is an economic miracle worth shouting about – Ed Conway for The Times (£) The EEA is a better option for leaving the EU – Jeremy Warner for the Telegraph (£) After Donald Trump’s America First, Angela Merkel’s Germany First – Philip Stephens for the FT (£) Britain needs one last referendum (on staying in the EU) before we ban them – Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood for The Times (£) News in brief No. 10 slaps down Leadsom over claim post-Brexit immigration rules are ‘up for negotiation’ as EU confirms plans that could see Britons charged €7 to visit the bloc – Mail UK ratifies European patent court agreement – FT (£) UK environment department hires 1,150 staff to deal with Brexit – FT (£) Caroline Lucas booed for suggesting UK should have ‘chance to overturn Brexit’ – Express