House of Lords should be scrapped if it blocks Brexit bill says Lord Lamont… Lord Lamont yesterday warned the House of Lords will not “deserve to survive” if they stand in the way of Brexit. The Tory peer hit again out as Labour and Lib Dem peers admitted they would try to amend the Brexit Bill – handing the PM the power to trigger EU divorce talks – when it goes before them next week. Lib Dem Lords leader Lord Newby said his party wanted a Commons vote on the final Brexit bill before they would approve the bill. Former Tory Chancellor Lord Lamont said: “The motive of some of the people coming forward with these amendments is to get embroiled in a time wasting, time delaying exercise.” – The Sun …as Tory leader Baroness Evans says Article 50 bill not the ‘proper place’ for Brexit amendments Baroness Evans of Bowes Park, the Leader of the Lords, said the upper chamber could play a “really important and constructive part in scrutinising this bill”. But she urged colleagues not to put amendments to the vote, saying there would be opportunities later down the line – such as during the promised Great Repeal Bill – for considerations about post-Brexit Britain to be heard. She told Radio 5Live: “There will be numerous debates and votes, there will be legislation for years to come which actually are on the outcome of the negotiations and what a post-Brexit Britain will look like. “That will be the proper place in which to talk about these issues, and that is the proper place to scrutinise and amend at that point. It’s not this bill.” David Lidington, her counterpart in the Commons, gave a similar message on the Andrew Marr Show. – PoliticsHome Outrage as peers threaten to stall Theresa May’s Brexit bill – Daily Express Leave Article 50 bill alone or risk abolition, Lords told – The Times (£) Labour’s Lords leader pledges not to delay triggering of Article 50 – The Independent Peers revolt against Brexit bill ‘could spell danger’ for the House of Lords – IBTimes > On BrexitCentral’s YouTube channel: Lord Lamont: The Lords would not deserve to survive if it blocks Article 50 Leader of the House of Commons, David Lidington: Lords should recognise mandate Ministers to get ‘free vote’ on future of Speaker John Bercow after he admitted voting Remain Ministers will get a ‘free vote’ on the future of Speaker John Bercow after he revealed he voted to stay in the European Union. Jubilant Tory backbenchers calling for Mr Bercow’s head lapped up the decision – as they had feared the Government would demand Ministers abstain. It came just hours after damning footage of Mr Bercow at Reading University. The Speaker – who is supposed to remain impartial – told students he voted Remain and that he supported immigration. He also slammed “untruths” peddled by the Brexit campaign. A spokeswoman said how the Speaker cast his ballot in the Brexit poll was no different to how he voted in Strictly Come Dancing – adding it had no impact on his ability to deal fairly with MPs. – The Sun Fresh pressure on Speaker Bercow over Brexit views – ITV News Finance firms keen to keep staff in Britain post-Brexit Britain’s financiers are determined to keep as much of their operations as possible in the UK after Brexit, predicting that London will remain one of the world’s preeminent business centres. Businesses are reviewing their position in the UK but are making only minor changes to staffing, according to EY’s financial services Brexit tracker. Few companies have publicly commented on their plans. Of the 222 tracked by EY, 15pc said they expect to move some staff, while 10pc actively re-committed themselves to the UK. The figures indicate that there is no headlong rush to the door – despite fears from some in the sector that the vote to leave the EU would prompt an exodus from the City of London. – Daily Telegraph EU’s chief Brexit negotiator has 29-strong team to back him up in divorce talks with UK Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator, currently has a 29-strong team to coordinate Brussels’ efforts to reach a divorce deal with Britain by 2019. The 66-year-old former french minister and EU commissioner will be ble to call on a wave of expertise from the European Commission, once Article 50 is finally triggered. Among them is is deputy Sabine Weyand, a German-born EU veteran who’s worked for the Commission for 23 years. She studied at Cambridge in the 1980 and spent the first half of her diplomatic career on trade policy before moving into coordination among EU institutions. – Daily Express Falling pound set to give fine art market a boost If the art market is to be affected by Brexit, then the fate of Untitled (One Eyed Man or Xerox Face) will send a strong signal about what lies ahead. The piece by Jean-Michel Basquiat is the top lot in Sotheby’s sale of contemporary work in three weeks and is expected to fetch between £14 million and £18 million. Klimt’s Farmer’s Garden is estimated at more than £35 million and is leading the impressionist and modern sale. The auction “is an important bellwether for the market”, said Alex Branczik of Sotheby’s. And few expect an abrupt change in direction. – The Times (£) EU urges Greeks and creditors to hammer out a deal quickly Greece should agree a new deal with its creditors as quickly as possible to avoid another crisis rocking the eurozone, the continent’s financial leaders have urged. The currency area’s most troubled nation should meet with the IMF and other countries to thrash out a set of economic and financial reforms rapidly to avoid a prolonged period of chaos, according to EU financial services chief Valdis Dombrovskis. “The reforms in the program are aimed at improving the competitiveness of the Greek economy and to give Greeks hope of a stable and secure future,” he told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag. “Now is not the time to turn the clocks back to financial instability.” – Daily Telegraph Brexit migration cuts could push state pension age up Britons may have to work longer if immigration is cut in the wake of Brexit, according to a warning from the Government’s pension adviser. John Cridland, a former CBI director reviewing the state pension age for the Government, said the “Brexit Factor” had made the future of the state pension uncertain. The Government’s decision on pension changes, due in May, will be informed by Mr Cridland’s report to be published one month earlier. – Daily Telegraph Bank quizzes City over special terms on Brexit The Bank of England has held meetings with senior City executives to map out a post-Brexit deal for British banks. Deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe has quizzed banks on their Brexit contingency plans in an attempt to identify weaknesses in the sector. There are fears that investment banks in particular could face sizeable hurdles to trading when Britain quits the EU. Cunliffe, who oversees financial stability, is expected to discuss the City’s wish list with ministers over the coming weeks, according to two senior bankers. He is likely to emphasise the need for a lengthy period of bedding-in after the split, and a deal that would see Britain and the EU recognise each other’s financial rules. – The Times (£) Charles Moore: It’s no surprise that many Brexiteers are feeling anxious Our real fear is that, having come so far, we might be cheated of what we thought we had achieved. After the vote on 23 June, many powerful Remain supporters questioned the mandate for leaving, the right of the United Kingdom as a whole (as opposed to its component parts) to leave and the legality of the means. They also attempted to affect the parliamentary arithmetic required. I came across several important Remainers who suggested that leaving should be prevented if possible, and that the possibility was real. Some said darkly that plans for sabotage were afoot, and I could all too readily believe that the brilliant Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, the Remainer who is credited with having invented Article 50 itself, had concealed self-destruct mechanisms inside his own creation. – Charles Moore for The Spectator’s Coffee House blog Svenja O’Donnell: Merkel doesn’t look like she’s about to help Theresa May on Brexit When it came to wooing Angela Merkel, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron pulled all the stops with a prestigious invitation to address Parliament, box sets of her favorite British crime series and even an invitation to spend his 49th birthday together. As the linchpin of the European Union, the German chancellor was the key to granting the concessions on immigration Cameron needed to persuade voters to keep the U.K. in the bloc. But she refused and Britain backed Brexit. Cameron’s fatal error was to assume that Merkel could be charmed into putting economics ahead of politics. Now with Brexit negotiations looming, there are signs his successor, Theresa May, is making the same mistake as two of her advisers say they are confident the chancellor can be persuaded to help the U.K. win control of immigration, yet still enjoy easy trade with the continent. – Svenja O’Donnell for Bloomberg Tom McTague: Britain’s odd new power couple An unlikely political alliance has formed at the heart of the U.K. government. Chancellor Philip Hammond and Brexit Secretary David Davis — the former the last great hope of Remainers, the latter a veteran Brexiteer — have joined forces to create a power center increasingly driving the U.K. government’s agenda behind the scenes, according to senior government officials and Euroskeptic MPs. One official described it as a “dream team.” “When the two agree on something, the rest of the cabinet will listen,” said one Whitehall aide familiar with their discussions. A second senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, added: “If DD and Phil can agree on something, the chances are they can bring the rest of the cabinet with them.” – Politico Tim Worstall: Is the EU unprepared for the implications of Brexit? There are minor implications of Brexit that Europe hasn’t really got to grips with yet. Given that the UK has long been a substantial net contributor, who is going to fill the hole in their budget? There are those who think they’ll attract some decent portion of the City, when of course the flow is going to be the other way, as it has been for decades. Who wouldn’t prefer to be offshore from that regulatory nightmare? But the real thing that should be keeping them up at night is: what if Britain does – as I insist it will – become significantly richer by leaving? That would show that the entire project has been a failure. It’s not necessary to hide inside the Customs Union, and it isn’t true that only a larger grouping can thrive in the modern world. That’s what the federasts need to worry about – that the UK will do better without them. Given that they actually believe their own propaganda, that is the one possibility that hasn’t even crossed their minds. Tim Worstall for City A.M. Felix Martin: When it comes to Brexit, is the City a help or a hindrance? The City of London has always (and not accidentally) baffled outsiders but Brexit has draped a new question over its age-old mystique: is London’s financial sector the UK’s trump card, or its Achilles heel, in negotiations over leaving the EU? During the EU referendum campaign, the City overwhelmingly backed Remain. It argued that large parts of its franchise depended on being able to sell its services into the Continent. It seemed obvious, therefore, that the City’s access to the single market must be a high-value chip on the EU’s side of the table in the game of Brexit brinkmanship. Is it? In his most recent intervention, Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, claimed it is the EU that needs the City just as much as the other way round. The City, he pointed out, is “the investment banker to Europe”: half of all equity and debt funding for eurozone companies is raised in London. So, for the EU to cut London off would be an act of mindless self-harm. – Felix Martin for the New Statesman Brexit comment in brief My sadness at the friends I’ve lost over Brexit – Susan Hill for The Spectator’s Coffee House blog UK environment faces a ‘cocktail of threats’ from Brexit – Caroline Lucas MP on her blog The collapse of Labour and Conservative sister parties in the Euro area – John Redwood MP on his blog We should roll back the barriers to growth post-Brexit – not employment rights – Adam Marshall for City A.M. Brexit news in brief Theresa May accused of ‘switching her language’ over Irish border – BBC News And finally… Brexit is being blamed for wrinkles and saggy breasts Wrinkles and saggy breasts are being blamed on Brexit. The number of Brits having a nip and tuck or boob job dropped by a staggering two fifths last year – to the lowest number in a decade – and industry insiders are blaming economic uncertainty caused by the EU Referendum and the decision to leave the European Union. Instead of going under the knife, fiscally cautious Brits are choosing cheaper alternatives to face lifts, such as dermal fillers and wrinkle-relaxing injections such as Botox. – Plymouth Herald