Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team David Davis in Brussels to thrash out terms of implementation deal… David Davis will hold Brexit talks in Brussels on Monday ahead of a crunch meeting of European Union leaders later this week. The Brexit Secretary is meeting counterpart Michel Barnier amid warnings from senior Tories that the UK must be allowed to formally sign trade deals during any transition period. Britain will become a “joke nation” if the EU stops it agreeing new trading terms outside the bloc as it withdraws, Jacob Rees-Mogg claimed. Mr Davis is in Brussels to thrash out details of transition arrangements that would come into force when Britain leaves in March 2019. – Belfast Telegraph …as Jacob Rees-Mogg warns that Britain risks becoming a ‘joke nation’ if it cannot sign trade deals during transition… Britain risks becoming a “joke nation” if it cannot formally sign trade deals in the 20 month transition period after the UK leaves the European Union, the most senior Eurosceptic Tory backbencher has warned. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Tory MP who leads the European Research Group, warns Theresa May that she cannot not accept any deal that leaves the UK as a “subservient state”. David Davis, the Brexit secretary, is in Brussels on Monday in a bid to try to finalise the terms of the transition period after Britain leaves the European Union in March next year. – Telegraph …amidst UK fears of new demands over the Irish border David Davis, Britain’s chief Brexit negotiator, will on Monday hold urgent talks in Brussels to try to secure the exit transition deal demanded by business, amid fears of a last-minute row over Ireland. Mr Davis is said by aides to be “confident” of an imminent deal to secure the 21-month transition, but there are fears in London that talks this week could become fraught because of tension over the Irish border. – FT (£) John McDonnell backs Remainer MPs’ bid to extend Brexit negotiations… John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has announced that the Labour party backs a recommendation from their MP Hilary Benn to extend the transition deal if necessary. The recommendation from the Brexit select committee, chaired by the pro-Remain MP, advises the Government to extend the Brexit talks to ensure Britain achieves “the best deal”. However, the move has prompted a wave of criticism from Brexiteers including Jacob Rees-Mogg and John Whittingdale, who denounced the move as a ploy to stop Brexit. This morning, appearing on ITV’s Peston on Sunday, Mr McDonnell criticised the decision to set a deadline to leave the EU as a “ludicrous”. – Express Brexit committee chairman denies trying to keep Britain in the EU – Belfast Telegraph > Yesterday on BrexitCentral: All Leave-backers on the Brexit Select Committee reject its new anti-Brexit report …as former Vote Leave boss Matthew Elliott says Brexit could never happen if the UK follows Hilary Benn’s plan The Brexiteer condemned the latest Brexit Select Committee’s report, championed by its chairman Hilary Benn, which called on the UK Government to ask for more time in the Brexit negotiations. Mr Benn claimed too many issues were yet to be discussed in the negotiations in order to reach an agreement by October 2018, the hard deadline imposed by the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. His report sparked a row between the committee’s own members, with Jacob Rees-Mogg even saying the suggestions were a “prospectus for a vassal state”. Mr Elliott said Mr Benn’s report was a pessimistic view of the progress made so far in the negotiations and a mere attempt to delay Brexit. – Express > On BrexitCentral’s YouTube: Matthew Elliott: If we keep pushing the Brexit deadline back, we’ll never meet it Sir Vince Cable seeks to use Salisbury attack as a reason to stop Brexit… Remainers hell-bent on stopping Brexit are to claim the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Salisbury illustrates why the UK needs to remain in the European Union. Sir Vince Cable will say today that following the nerve agent attack earlier this month, Britain will be safer from similar attacks in the future if it is part of the bloc. The Lib Dem leader, who is calling for a second Brexit referendum, will claim leaving the EU during such an unpredictable period in global geopolitics would be “utter folly”, with the UK facing the threat of war with Russia, a trade war with the United States and the ever-growing influence of China. – Express > Sir Gerald Howarth on BrexitCentral today: The UK’s disproportionate contribution to European security should be a powerful negotiating card in the Brexit talks …as senior Lib Dem admits the party risks declining into irrelevance after Brexit A senior Liberal Democrat has admitted there is “a risk” the party will fall into irrelevance after Brexit, if its appeal does not extend to “bread-and-butter issues” beyond opposition to leaving the EU. Alistair Carmichael, the party’s chief whip and a former Secretary of State for Scotland, added that it needed to “break out of the silos of the 52 and the 48”. He was asked whether, having positioned themselves as “Ukip for Remainers”, as it was put by a commentator earlier this week, the Lib Dems might suffer after March 2019 when the UK is set to exit the bloc. – Independent Boris Johnson tells Andrew Marr to cut the ‘BBC claptrap’ with its bleak Brexit claims Boris Johnson snapped in an interview with BBC’s Andrew Marr as the TV host suggested the UK will have to oblige to the influence of the European Court of Justice and continue to pay the EU post-Brexit. The Foreign Secretary was asked by Mr Marr whether he was happy with the progress made so far by the UK Government in the Brexit negotiations, considering it was clear – he claimed – that the ECJ would still have an impact on UK rulings post-Brexit… Mr Johnson replied it was clear from the Prime Minister’s Mansion House speech that significant progress had been made in the negotiations, accusing the TV host of propagating a Brexit “claptrap”. – Express Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it’s “claptrap” to say the European Court of Justice will continue to have some influence over the U.K. after it leaves the European Union, contradicting Prime Minister Theresa May. May said in a March 2 speech that it is a “hard fact” that “even after we have left the jurisdiction of the ECJ, EU law and the decisions of the ECJ will continue to affect us.” – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-18/johnson-contradicts-may-over-court-s-role-in-u-k-after-brexit Boris Johnson insists Brexit won’t be delayed – i News > Watch on BrexitCentral’s YouTube: Boris Johnson says continued jurisdiction of the ECJ post-Brexit is “BBC claptrap” Poll shows growing opposition to second EU referendum Support in Wales for another EU referendum is on the wane, according to the latest Welsh Barometer Opinion Poll. Back in November, exclusive polling for ITV Cymru Wales showed a very narrow -1%- lead for the idea but there’s now a 10% majority for opponents of the idea. The result suggests that Brexit now has an air of inevitability. Since the last poll, the UK and EU have reached the outline of an agreement on the terms of withdrawal. They hope to finalise in the next few weeks the details of the transition period that will follow and then move to negotiations on the future relationship. – ITV News Ruth Davidson slammed by Labour and Lib Dems for ‘playing games’ on devolution… Ruth Davidson has been warned to stop “playing games” with devolution and help protect Scotland from a hard Brexit. Labour and the Lib Dems turned on the Scottish Tory leader as Holyrood prepares to pass the SNP’s emergency legislation to stop a Westminster “power grab”. It follows an attack by Tory constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins, who is pushing for a “union guarantee”. He called on the other unionist parties to sign up to an amendment on the importance of the UK “single market”. – Daily Record …as Tories unveil plan to stop Nicola Sturgeon using Brexit powers to break up UK market SNP ministers would be banned from using the swathe of new powers they will receive after Brexit to fracture the UK’s internal market, under Tory proposals for a “Union guarantee”. The Conservatives are to table an amendment to the Scottish Government’s Brexit Continuity Bill that would prevent ministers introducing rules and regulations that would hinder free trade with the rest of the UK. They will argue that the safeguard is needed to ensure Scottish companies continue to have “free and frictionless access” to their most important market, which is worth four times their trade with the rest of the EU. – Telegraph (£) Accountancy firm calls for tax cuts to boost UK competitiveness post-Brexit Accountancy group UHY Hacker Young has called for the UK to slash its tax rates to boost competitiveness post-Brexit. Research by the accountancy group suggested that the UK’s tax burden is 76 per cent higher than that of the major emerging economies. The UK has a tax burden of 38 per cent of GDP, compared to an average of 21.8 per cent for the so-called BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China). – City A.M. Siemens builds UK presence with 3D-printing plant Siemens is to open a £27 million 3D-printing factory in the West Midlands, creating 50 skilled jobs. The German engineering group said that the manufacturing facility in Worcester would make metal parts for customers such as Rolls-Royce and British Aerospace as well as for its own factories and would aim to recruit engineers from the nearby universities of Birmingham and Warwick. Siemens, which has headquarters in Berlin and Munich and is the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe, employs 372,000 people worldwide and generated global revenues of €83 billion last year. – Times (£) Jacob Rees-Mogg: Theresa May will lay out the facts to the EU: Britain is a serious country, and Brexit will mean Brexit Throughout the long and drawn-out process of leaving the EU, the most baffling thing has been how some seem to regard the pronouncements of that wondrous body, the European Commission. For lo, these are holy writ. When the Commission says something, it is deemed to be infallible, its opinions inevitable and, most intriguingly of all, its approach entirely disinterested. This detached, Olympian body never “pushes a line”, it simply hands down great thunderbolts of truth. In the run-up to the European Council Theresa May attends this week, it is time for the genuine truth and real facts to be faced up to. These are as the Prime Minister insists they are, not as the Commission and its cheerleaders here invent. – Jacob Rees-Mogg MP for the Telegraph (£) Rohan Silva: We’re almost free of the Brussels gridlock. Let’s rev up Outside the EU, a future British government may choose a distinct path — and start to take on the US tech giants. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong, only that it’s a new possibility post-Brexit. It’s a similar story with regional growth. At the moment it’s not possible for a British government to cut taxes in a specific region to attract investment and spark regeneration. Free from these strictures, politicians might decide to designate parts of the northeast as special trade zones with zero corporation tax, or put in place generous incentives for start-ups in some of the poorest towns. As the theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson once said: “Nothing is boring if you look at it carefully.” If we’re to make Brexit a success, we’re going to have to make the most of the new possibilities that freedom from obscure EU rules might bring. Given everything that’s at stake, what could be less boring than that? – Rohan Silva for the Sunday Times (£) Telegraph: A transition agreement is a milestone on the road to Brexit, but many obstacles remain The idea of a transition was proposed by the UK and, as a result, we have had little leverage during the negotiations. Theresa May effectively agreed the broad outlines of the deal before Christmas and it seems to have changed little. Essentially, the status quo will continue for 21 months after the official date for Brexit next March. To all intents and purposes, our new leaving date is Dec 31, 2020. Efforts to make transition look markedly different from staying in the EU have mostly been rebuffed. – Telegraph editorial David Torrance: How Brexit vote has left the SNP making the same historical error “Scotland”, declared a young Alex Salmond in May 1975, “knows from bitter experience what treatment is in store for a powerless region of a common market.” I discovered that quote while researching a biography of the former first minister and was struck by the contrast with his stance on the European Union a few decades later. Politicians, of course, are allowed to change their minds, but Salmond’s represented quite a journey. His youthful disdain for the European project also opens a fascinating chapter on Scotland in historian Robert Saunders’ new book on the UK’s 1975 Common Market referendum, “Yes to Europe!” (Cambridge University Press). It also provides a fascinating insight into Scottish politics of that era. – David Torrance for the Herald John Redwood: Governing ourselves As we exit the EU we need to make sure Ministers provide good leadership to their officials, explaining in future we wish to turn our backs on this way of legislating. It is high time we had the self confidence to pass our own laws that can be good for both customers and businesses. They should not set out how everything is to be done, as that gets in the way of competition and innovation. Laws are needed to ensure honest dealing and safety, but are not needed to tell businesses how to make things or to define services. – John Redwood’s Diary Brexit in brief Ministers are dicing with disaster if they’re not Ready on Day One for Brexit – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome In a trade war Germany is the weakest link – Wolfgang Munchau for the FT (£) Britain must follow Brussels rules on aerospace after Brexit to protect industry, says House of Commons committee – Independent Which sectors would be most vulnerable to EU-US trade war? – Bruegel Doctors go on lobbying warpath to defend EU health regulations – Times (£) German minister berates EU position on refugees – Times (£) And finally… Welsh Government to consult children as young as 7 over Brexit Children as young as seven will be given the opportunity to air their views on Brexit, the Welsh Government has announced today. Ministers say it is vital to listen to the thoughts of the primary school pupils to help understand what the younger generation thinks. They add they want to ensure their opinions are represented in the Welsh Government’s discussions and decisions about Wales’ future once the UK leaves the EU. Announcing the plans, Huw Irranca-Davies, Wales’ Minister for Children, said that Brexit would bring about some of the biggest changes children and young people would face in their adult lives. – Daily Post Plot for children as young as seven to be consulted on Brexit slammed as ‘brainwashing’ – Express