Lord Mandelson says House of Lords ‘shouldn’t throw in towel’ on Brexit… Peers should “not throw in the towel early” when it comes to Brexit, Peter Mandelson has said. The former Labour Cabinet minister believes the House of Lords will force changes to the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill – the legislation allowing Theresa May to formally start Brexit. Lord Mandelson, a former EU commissioner, insisted there is a “strong body of opinion” among peers over guaranteeing the future of EU nationals living in the UK and in giving Parliament a vote on the final Brexit deal. – Sky News Peter Mandelson claims immigration WON’T fall after Brexit – Daily Mail Brexit a decision for whole UK, says Mandelson – The Independent Baroness Hayter: Making amends to Brexit legislation – PoliticsHome Lord Hain in bid to force changes to Brexit Bill – Belfast Telegraph Lord Murphy: Not for House of Lords to block Brexit – BBC News Cross-party Lords coalition to push for Brexit bill amendments – IBTimes > On BrexitCentral’s YouTube channel – Lord Mandelson on Brexit: “Many people had no idea” …as Justice Secretary Liz Truss says Brexit is ‘irrevocable’ once triggered The process of Britain leaving the European Union is irrevocable once it has been triggered, a government minister said on Sunday. Prime Minister Theresa May says she will invoke Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty by the end of March, beginning two years of formal divorce talks. Lawyers for the government have said that, once started, the process is irrevocable, but some EU leaders say Britain can change its mind and a legal challenge to determine whether it can be reversed has been filed with an Irish court. – Business Insider > On BrexitCentral’s YouTube channel – Justice Secretary, Liz Truss: “Mandelson needs to get over it!” …and a senior EU diplomat says ‘that bus has gone’, when asked about a Brexit U-turn Tony Blair wants fellow Britons to “rise up” and block or soften Brexit, but it may now be out of their hands — many Europeans just want them to get on and get out. After their June referendum vote to quit the EU, stunned European leaders insisted Britons were welcome to change their minds. That may have encouraged those like ex-premier Blair who last week challenged Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to launch the process next month and exit in two years whatever the EU offers. Yet whatever their hopes of legal obstacles or of an electoral backlash, the mood across the rest of the bloc has shifted away. While officially the door remains open to Britain to stay, many on the continent would not welcome a U-turn now. “This bus has left,” said one senior EU diplomat. “No one is happy about it. But we have moved on and the last thing anyone wants now is to reopen the whole issue.” – Reuters Amazon creates thousands of new jobs in another win for post-Brexit UK and Expedia expands London office Amazon is the latest US tech giant to commit to the UK after the vote for Brexit, promising to create thousands of new jobs by the end of the year. Some 5,000 full-time jobs will be created across Amazon’s business in the UK, bringing total headcount to 24,000 by the end of 2017… Amazon will also launch a new apprentice scheme for hundreds of young people in engineering, logistics and warehousing at fulfilment centres across the country, with three new locations due to open this year in Tilbury, Doncaster and Daventry… Meanwhile, Expedia has also announced plans to expand in the capital, leasing a further 138,000 sq ft of office space in Islington until 2030, where it plans to increase headcount. – City A.M. Theresa May warned over Brexit negotiations ‘crash landing’ if UK fails to compromise Theresa May has been warned by European ministers that Britain’s Brexit negotiators must be prepared to compromise or risk a “crash landing”. The Prime Minister was issued fresh caution by a Czech EU minister over potential difficulties she will face when Brexit negotiations begin in earnest. No 10 was reminded of the importance of compromise – and told anything short could have serious knock-on effects. But before talks with EU countries can commence, legislation allowing Mrs May to trigger Article 50 needs to clear Parliament, with the House of Lords set to begin a marathon debate on Monday. Around 190 peers are expected to speak during two days set aside for the European Union (Notification Of Withdrawal) Bill’s second reading. – ITV News Brussels focuses on UK’s €60bn exit bill before trade talks The EU’s Brexit negotiators expect to spend until Christmas solely discussing Britain’s divorce from the bloc, denying London any trade talks until progress is made on a €60bn exit bill and the rights of expatriate citizens. A narrow divorce-first approach favoured by Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, would represent a big setback for Britain’s aim for a fast-track EU trade deal, completed by the end of 2018. A move to delay trade talks sets the stage for a high-stakes stand-off once formal Brexit negotiations begin. David Davis, the UK’s Brexit secretary, wants all elements of Brexit to be handled “in parallel”, saying he has told Mr Barnier that his “sequential” plan for talks “does not seem practical”. – FT (£) UK and Germany plan post-Brexit military roadmap Germany and the U.K. are developing a security “road map” that aims to maintain close military-ties between the two nations once Britain exits the EU, Bloomberg reported. The plans were unveiled by Germany’s Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, who said that military cooperation goes beyond EU membership. “We want to have very close ties,” von der Leyen said in an interview at the Munich Security Conference. “We know and need each other. We are both members of [the North Atlantic Treaty Organization] and we have common interests to increase our cooperation.” – Politico Oxford University set to break with 700 years of tradition and open a foreign campus – after France offers Brexit sweetener Oxford University might break with 700 years of tradition by establishing its first foreign campus in response to Brexit, The Telegraph can disclose. French officials met senior staff at Oxford last week and revealed new proposals that they hope would guarantee future European Union funding for a “satellite” base in Paris. Other universities, including Warwick, were approached with the idea to build a new campus in Paris in 2018. It comes after France launched a charm offensive earlier this month to lure Britain’s bankers across the Channel after Britain voted to leave the EU. – Daily Telegraph Leading City think tank calls for bespoke Brexit deal ahead of Philip Hammond’s first Budget A leading City think tank is calling on the chancellor to fight for a bespoke Brexit deal as he prepares to deliver his first Budget speech in less than a month’s time. TheCityUK’s Budget submission notes a tailor-made deal with the EU “based on mutual recognition and regulatory cooperation that delivers similar market access rights to those currently in place” would not only be in the UK’s best interests but also those of the other EU member states. – City A.M. Strong growth eases pressure on Hammond to slash deficit – Daily Telegraph More than 30 countries chasing post-Brexit trade deals At least 35 countries are queuing for free-trade deals with post-Brexit Britain, it was revealed yesterday. They include the US, Australia, Brazil, Switzerland, New Zealand, Norway, Turkey and several Gulf states. Jayne Adye, head of campaign Get Britain Out, said: “This destroys Project Fear. The UK will not be isolated and doesn’t need the EU’s so-called clout. We have our own clout and the world can see it. – The Sun Iain Dale: Leave backers told us exactly what we’d be voting for – it’s a shame Remain leaders didn’t, but we all know why The mantra that leading Remain supporters come out with nowadays is that, while “of course” they support the democratic vote on June 23rd, we poor buggers hadn’t got a clue what we were voting for when we voted to Leave. Yes, we voted to leave the EU, but we didn’t know our “destination” because no one had told us what our destination was. This is of course bollocks writ large… Theresa May, David Davis and Boris Johnson need to take on those who argue that we didn’t know the destination when we voted to LEAVE. And they need to throw the argument back on Remainers. – Iain Dale on his blog Roger Bootle: Why Britain should consider unilateral free trade The debate about our trading relationships after we have left the EU is now hotting up. Most economists would agree about the optimum end result, namely free trade between the UK and both the EU and the rest of the world. But there are disagreements about the best route from here to there. The case for free trade is essentially the same as the case for free markets in general, that is to say, left to its own devices the market allocates available resources to their best possible use, given consumer preferences and the production possibilities afforded by existing technology. – Roger Bootle for the Daily Telegraph Jane Merrick: Arrogant unelected peers don’t help us democratic Remainers The late Robin Cook had a good line in understatement. As leader of the Commons in February 2003, when both Houses of Parliament failed to reach agreement on Lords reform after a marathon series of votes, he told MPs: “We should go home and sleep on this interesting position.” Over the next 14 years, parliament has failed to wake up to reform of the upper chamber. Successive governments claimed they wanted to reform the Lords, but through stalemate and downright refusal to compromise on both sides, parliament and the executive have accepted an unsatisfactory status quo. As peers today prepare to begin the process of picking apart the government’s plans for Brexit, perhaps now is the time for reform. – Jane Merrick for The Times (£) Alistair Burt MP: It’s time for Remainers to accept the referendum result – and I say that as a pro-European In Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent wait to be ejected from an airlock into the depths of outer space, and certain death. Suddenly Ford says: “No, wait, just a moment, what’s this switch?” Arthur looks up in hope of escape and cries “What?” But Ford says “No, just fooling, there’s nothing there. We are going to die”… I have come to the conclusion that for those who supported the UK’s membership of the EU, and fought in many ways for it during the past 40 years, it may be best now to realise that the switch is not there. We are not going to die, but we are going to leave. – Alistair Burt MP for ConservativeHome Liam Byrne MP: The right reforms will slow migration while remaining fair to migrants For those who campaigned, like me, to stay in the European Union, it’s obvious that slowing migration was at the top of voters’ list of worries. And Brexit now demands a new system to manage migration from the EU. Those who want of to keep ties to Europe strong must now lead the argument for a sensible, moderate set of changes that won’t wreck our economy — in the hope that in the long term, free-movement policy in Europe itself might converge with the reforms we suggest. On Tuesday, the new all-party parliamentary group on “Best Brexit”, supported by the Social Market Foundation think tank, is holding a session at which me and another former immigration minister, the Conservatives’ Mark Harper MP, will discuss ways of tackling the issue. – Liam Byrne MP for The Times (£) Brexit comment in brief Unless it makes a real shift to the Left, Ukip will have no place in Brexit Britain – Juliet Samuel for the Daily Telegraph Even Donald Trump can see the EU’s in a mess and he’s often as fake as his orange tan – Tim Montgomerie for The Sun Backroom deals are no way to secure Britain’s place in the world – Lib Dem Lord Newby for The Times (£) Major problems with overseas aid for Eastern European countries – John Redwood MP for John Redwood’s Diary Brexit news in brief Sir Vince Cable: The government is ‘self-harming’ by ignoring Britain’s universities in Brexit negotiations – Business Insider European Commission says Ireland needs ‘special attention’ on Brexit – Irish Examiner The New City Initiative calls for a dual funds regime to help asset managers deal with Brexit – City A.M. And finally… ‘Brexit’ speeds into the global lexicon It will not please everyone but the word Brexit has become an internationally recognised term in record time. In just over four years it has gone from being an obscure reference in Britain’s financial press to a recognised word in most European languages and also the languages of Asia. Usually it takes up to a century for words to become one of those known as “internationalisms” — such as airport, taxi, hotel, doctor, hospital, radio, television and chocolate. Graeme Davis, a senior research fellow at the University of Buckingham and who has written an article for the Open University on the subject, said: “Brexit is both an English language phenomenon and a global language phenomenon. – The Times (£)