Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Theresa May to pursue trade deals around the world during Brexit transition… The UK will look to pursue trade deals with countries around the world despite potentially being bound by European Union rules for around two years after Brexit, Theresa May is to tell MPs. Delivering an update to the Commons on the recent Brussels summit, the Prime Minister will say that even though the UK is leaving the single market and customs union in March 2019 she wants “access to one another’s markets” to continue “as now” during an implementation period. According to the EU, during the transition period the UK would have to comply with the bloc’s trade policy – preventing it from agreeing its own deals with other countries. – ITV News Theresa May is right to demand our access to a global trade deal – even if Brussels want to say it’s not possible – The Sun editorial …as PM pitches status quo Brexit transition to Parliament… Prime Minister Theresa May will pitch her plan for a Brexit transition period with unchanged access to European Union markets when she briefs MPs on Monday about her latest negotiating trip to Brussels. May secured an agreement last week to move previously-deadlocked talks forward onto the topic of interim and long-term trading arrangements. On Monday she will report back to parliament on those talks, setting out the framework of a time-limited implementation period designed to smooth Britain’s EU exit and provide clarity for businesses and citizens. – Reuters Swift transition deal is vital, says UK Finance – Times (£) …and gears up to discuss end deal with ministers Theresa May is due to meet her “Brexit cabinet” – about a dozen of her most senior ministers – to discuss for the first time what the UK’s future relationship with the EU should be. The PM will later tell MPs the UK wants to sign trade deals during what she calls an implementation period. EU leaders have agreed talks can move on, including to discuss a transition deal for a post-Brexit period. Labour has raised concerns that trade may not be discussed for months. The EU has published its guidelines for phase two of the negotiations, with discussions on long-term future economic co-operation not likely to begin until March – although “internal preparatory discussions” on future relations can take place before then. – BBC News Theresa May: ‘I’ve proved doubters wrong’ – Telegraph (£) Theresa May’s allies urge her to delay holding Cabinet reshuffle to May after ending year on unexpected high – The Sun Tories urge Theresa May to stay until 2021 – Times (£) Theresa May is not the perfect politician but she’s the best person to lead Brexit – The Sun editorial Needed early in the New Year. A reshuffle to help Britain better prepare for leaving the EU. – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome EU’s chief negotiator says Britain must ‘face the consequences’ of Brexit Britain must “face the consequences” of Brexit, Michel Barnier has warned, as he said that there is “no way” that Theresa May will be able to secure a bespoke deal with the European Union. The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator has told the Prime Minister that she will not be able to “cherry pick” what she wants in a future trade deal with the EU. He said that she will not be able to “mix” the benefits of Norway, which is a full member of the Single Market, and Canada, which has trade and services agreement with the EU. – Telegraph (£) Leading Remain campaigners vow to exploit ‘meaningful vote’ on Brexit in bid to keep UK in the EU Leading Remain campaigners have vowed to exploit the “meaningful vote” on Brexit in a bid to “sway public opinion” and keep the UK in the EU. Tory rebels last week defeated the Government as they succeeded in forcing ministers to enshrine a vote on the final Brexit deal in law. While the pro-European Tories denied that they were trying to block Brexit, a leading Remain campaigner has now vowed to use the vote to try to “stop the trainwreck” of Brexit. Lord Malloch-Brown, a former Labour foreign minister and senior diplomat, is to take a lead role in trying to co-ordinate opposition to Brexit. – Telegraph (£) Vote Leave leader Matthew Elliott accuses ‘zombie’ remainers of bid to overturn Brexit The man who masterminded Leave’s victory in the referendum campaign has accused “zombie” remainers of a trying to overturn Brexit. Writing exclusively for The Independent, Matthew Elliott said people calling for a second referendum were hiding what he called a “shoddy plot” behind their “high sounding motives”. The campaigner who led the Vote Leave drive to pull Britain out of the European Union, argued that a second referendum would incentivise the EU to give the UK a more punitive deal. – Independent A second referendum is the zombie Remain campaign’s last roll of the electoral dice – Matthew Elliott for the Independent Senior Labour figures clash over second EU referendum Senior Labour figures have clashed over whether there should be a second referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union. Deputy leader Tom Watson was seemingly at odds with shadow home secretary Diane Abbott on the need for a second poll. Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Pienaar’s Politics Mr Watson said “you shouldn’t rule anything out” when engaged in “complex negotiations”. His comments came after shadow home secretary Diane Abbott told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show that “the Labour Party doesn’t support a second referendum”. – Evening Standard ‘In what way is that Brexit?’ Sky News host stuns Barry Gardiner over Labour’s Brexit plot – Express Labour’s student vote ‘could melt away’ over Brexit backing – Times Higher Education Diane Abbott: Listen to CBI and NHS’ on Brexit migration – BBC News Diane Abbott claims Labour would make it easier for immigrants to come to Britain after Brexit – The Sun > On BrexitCentral’s YouTube: Diane Abbott on her support for a second EU Referendum IPPR proposes creation of ‘shared market’ for UK and EU A think tank is proposing a post-Brexit trading deal based on the UK and the EU sharing each other’s markets. It would see the UK and EU continuing the regulatory alignment that exists today, and the formation of a new customs union similar to the existing one, the centre-left IPPR said. It would allow tariff-free trade, and the UK to benefit from EU trade deals. IPPR director Tom Kibasi said it “honours the referendum result” while securing Britain’s economic interests. The group said that the EU would also benefit from the scale of the UK’s economy in future trade negotiations. – BBC News Growing thirst for English sparkling wine Sales of sparkling wine have reached a record high, with Britons drinking the equivalent of 65 Olympic swimming pools over the past year. Sparkling wine consumption rose 5 per cent to 1.62 million hectolitres, up from 1.53 million the previous year. Consumers are drinking 77 per cent more fizz than in 2013, according to figures published by UHY Hacker Young, the chartered accountants. The increase is partly attributed to demand for cheaper alternatives to champagne, experts say, with prosecco driving growth. It is also thanks to the popularity of English sparkling wines, several of which have gained international acclaim, including Chapel Down, Gusbourne and Nyetimber. – Times (£) Ben Bradley MP: The Letwin amendment will satisfy all parties I have had genuine concerns, since the Government lost the vote this week on Amendment 7, that the next challenge on the table would be over next week’s vote to put the Leaving date on the face of the Bill. It’s been thrown out in the media already that a rebellion was on the cards and that there would be a challenge. The rhetoric around it all has been broached a little bit already in the chamber too, and this has been a real worry. My inbox is full enough with residents’ Brexit concerns, and sometimes conspiracy theories too, without further confusion and perceived delay. – Ben Bradley MP for the Huffington Post Matthew Elliott: A second referendum is the zombie Remain campaign’s last roll of the electoral dice You have to be aged over 60 today to have been able to cast a ballot in that first referendum on our relationship with Europe – a reminder that the vote on 23 June 2016 was arguably the real second referendum. And the decision to Leave was not one that the British people took lightly. With many voting for the first time in years – and some for the first time ever – the Vote Leave campaign secured the biggest ever mandate in British electoral history, with 17,410,742 backing our proposition that it was time to take back control of our laws, money, borders and trade policy. – Matthew Elliott for the Independent Christian May: He can try to wade in, but Tony Blair has nothing to add to the Brexit debate As for Tony Blair, the majority of his post-Downing Street years have been devoted to making money, often with scant regard for public perception. One lucrative line has been in offering PR advice to unsavoury leaders from Guinea to Kazakhstan. His own reputation has deteriorated since leaving Number 10 to such an extent that he seems to have thought “sod it – in for a penny, in for a pound” and is now spearheading efforts to undermine British democracy. Asked by the BBC over the weekend if his purpose now was to reverse Brexit, Blair replied: “Yes, exactly so.” Brexit remains contentious, and as last week’s vote in parliament confirmed, the path towards it is not set in stone. But the destination should be. MPs have a duty to shape and guide the nation’s journey towards Brexit, including its future relationship with the EU. – Christian May for City A.M. Telegraph view: Britain is still waiting for the Government to explain its Brexit destination The new divide in British politics is no longer between Remainers and Leavers, but convergers and divergers. To what extent will post‑Brexit Britain effectively mirror what the EU does on trade and services or plough its own furrow in the world? This has been the key question since the vote to leave in June last year, but it has never formally been addressed by the Government. This is principally because ministers do not agree on the way forward. The Cabinet is due to hold its first set-piece discussion on Tuesday, after preliminary proceedings on Monday in the subcommittee that drives policy. This is about more than seeking to resolve a technocratic distinction; it goes to the heart of the sort of relationship the UK will have in the long term with Europe. – Telegraph editorial Wolfgang Munchau: Lack of eurozone reform outranks Brexit as the EU’s biggest threat Last year was defined by big political shocks. This year saw more subtle, but important, surprises: the destruction of the French two-party political system and the erosion of the centrist majority in German politics. Over the long term, I suspect these events will matter more than Brexit. In the past few weeks, UK prime minister Theresa May has managed to build trust among her European colleagues, now lining up behind her version of Brexit. Yet while the UK’s exit from the EU might not derail the union, the eurozone still could because of old, unresolved issues. – Wolfgang Munchau for the FT (£) Brexit in brief Is a soft Brexit compatible with regaining sovereignty? – Denis MacShane for City A.M. Security is as critical as trade in the next stage of Brexit talks – Rebecca Harding for City A.M. The populist surge in Europe is nowhere near over. Austria is just its latest success – Matthew Goodwin for the Telegraph (£) Tory Brexit rebels risking Corbyn government, says Nadine Dorries MP – Belfast Telegraph City of London office sales boom as weak pound pulls in foreign buyers – Telegraph How slashing EU red tape would affect overtime pay – Telegraph (£) Tánaiste Simon Coveney seeks to repair DUP relations after Brexit tension – Times (£)