Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Theresa May blames Corbyn for failure of cross-party Brexit talks ahead of latest Commons statement this afternoon… Theresa May halted the cross-party approach to Brexit last night as she told her cabinet that she would focus on securing changes from Brussels designed to win over rebel Conservatives and the DUP. The prime minister used an evening conference call to announce that she would seek changes to the backstop, the Northern Ireland insurance policy to avoid a hard border, or its removal despite repeated refusals by the European Union to budge on the issue. Mrs May blamed Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, for the collapse of the cross-party approach after he refused to meet for talks unless she ruled out a no-deal Brexit. – The Times (£) Theresa May gives up on cross-party talks to fix Brexit, sources say – Bloomberg …putting her on a Brexit collision course with MPs… Theresa May is on a collision course with Britain’s parliament after the prime minister refused to compromise to secure a Brexit deal on the eve of a deadline set by MPs for information about next steps. A week after suffering the worst parliamentary defeat by a British government in modern history, Mrs May will not lay out a substantive “plan B” for leaving the EU, despite parliament’s demands that she stop running down the clock. Instead, she will tell MPs on Monday that she is still working to ease Eurosceptics’ concerns about the Irish border. She is expected to meet MPs, business leaders and trade unions this week, but has so far refused to rule out a no-deal Brexit or to keep Britain in an EU customs union, key compromises that could have won her the support of Labour MPs. – FT(£) …as she is said to be mulling amending the Good Friday Agreement to get her deal past MPs… Theresa May is considering amending the Good Friday Agreement as part of a fresh attempt to unblock the Brexit logjam, The Daily Telegraph understands. The Prime Minister will on Monday update Parliament on her attempts to draw up a so-called “plan B” for Brexit following cross-party talks in Westminster – and discussions with other EU leaders. One of the proposals under consideration is rewriting the 1998 accord to assure Ireland that the UK is committed to no hard border on the island after the UK leaves the European Union in March. Ministers believe that adding some text into the agreement would serve as a way of avoiding having to commit the UK to the backstop. The plan is likely to prove highly controversial and would require the consent of all the parties involved in Northern Ireland. Senior EU sources said it was a non starter while even UK Government sources were “sceptical” that it would work. The fact it is even being considered underlines the political crisis now facing the Prime Minister. – Telegraph (£) Theresa May considers rewriting Good Friday Agreement to break Brexit deadlock – Mirror Theresa May in bid to woo DUP and Tory rebels with last-ditch plea to EU on Irish backstop – PoliticsHome …while her latest conference call with the Cabinet yields ‘no solutions’ to the Irish backstop… The prime minister held a conference call with her bitterly divided cabinet from the country retreat of Chequers on Sunday evening. Cabinet sources said the consensus on the 90-minute call was to renew efforts to find acceptable changes to the backstop arrangement but that the conversation was light on specifics. One said there were “no actual solutions” proposed during the call. “It is difficult to know – as ever – what she will do,” another said. “But the broad agreement is on the need to bring DUP and Tory rebels on board.” Despite her claim in the wake of last week’s significant defeat in parliament that she would speak to “senior parliamentarians” from all parties to seek a compromise, government sources insisted her overriding priority was to prevent a historic split in the Tory party. – Guardian Theresa May holds conference call with Cabinet ahead of announcing Brexit plan B – Mirror …although Dublin is reportedly rejecting the idea of an alternative deal for the Irish border post-Brexit… Ireland Sunday rejected the idea of negotiating a bilateral agreement with the U.K. as an alternative to the so-called backstop mechanism for avoiding a hard border with Northern Ireland after Brexit. “We remain united [and] focused on protecting Ireland,” Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney wrote on Twitter. “That includes continued support for the EU/UK agreed [Withdrawal Agreement] in full, including the Backstop as negotiated.” The Sunday Times had reported that British Prime Minister Theresa May was planning to try to strike such a deal with Ireland to avoid border checks without relying on the backstop, which many within her Conservative party reject. A No. 10 Downing Street official told Politico in response to the report that “it is not something we recognize.” A spokesman for the Irish government told the Financial Times that “Ireland negotiates as part of the group of 27 European nations.” – Politico Ministers may offer new treaty with Ireland to remove backstop and avoid hard border – Telegraph (£) …while Germany’s Foreign Minister is sceptical about UK-Ireland talks solving the deadlock German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Sunday it was unclear how any talks between Britain and Ireland on resolving the question of the Irish backstop could help the European Union’s deal with London on Brexit. Theresa May is to set out her plans for Brexit on Monday after UK lawmakers rejected her deal with the EU last week, throwing the process into disarray. The United Kingdom is due to leave the bloc on March 29. Asked by ZDF television about media reports on possible plans by May to negotiate a bilateral deal with the Irish government, Maas said it was unclear how it would work. “We have to negotiate and also agree a withdrawal agreement with Britain. It is a bit of a mystery to me what the British government wants to negotiate with Dublin or what sort of an additional agreement it should be,” he told German television. “It won’t have any effect on what was agreed with the (European) Commission.” – Reuters Sir Keir Starmer claims the backstop is likely to remain in any Brexit scenario… Any withdrawal agreement is likely to require a backstop, Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, has said, admitting for the first time that a renegotiation was unlikely to be possible in the time before the UK is set to leave the EU. Starmer has previously been highly critical of the backstop, which would keep Britain in an effective customs union with the EU as an insurance policy to prevent a hard border in Northern Ireland, with no unilateral right for the UK to exit until a technological solution to keep open the border can be found. However, speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Starmer suggested Labour was open to keeping the terms in the withdrawal agreement as long as other key changes were made – such as a commitment to a full, permanent customs union and a high alignment with the EU’s single market. “At this stage any deal probably does require a backstop and we’ve got to recognise that,” he said. “There are problems with this backstop and we have got to recognise that but because we are in this stage of the exercise, nearly two years in, the chances now of a deal that doesn’t have a backstop are very, very slim.” – Guardian > WATCH: Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer’s full interview on The Andrew Marr Show …seemingly contradicting his party’s stance on the matter… Asked on the BBC’s Marr show if Labour’s deal would have the hated backstop, Keir Starmer said: “I think at this stage any deal probably does require a backstop, and we’ve got to recognise that. He went on to say: “There are problems with this backstop, there are risks that are real. But I think because we’re at this stage of the exercise, nearly two years in, the chance now of a deal that doesn’t have a backstop are very, very slim and we’d have to accept that and proceed from there.” But a Labour party spokesman refused to repeat Sir Keir’s assertion. The spokesman insisted they “would not fall into it”. He added: “The only reason a backstop may become necessary is because of the shambles this Government has made of the Brexit negotiations.” – The Sun …while saying he would campaign for and vote Remain in any second referendum Keir Starmer says he would campaign and vote for Remain if there was a second referendum. Labour is calling for a general election to end the Brexit impasse. The party’s policy, as decided at their conference in September, is that “all options are on the table” if they can’t win a no confidence motion in the government. That includes a second referendum. The vast majority of Labour members support having a second poll, Labour voters largely back Remain but a majority of Labour seats voted to Leave. In recent weeks the party’s leadership has been at pains to stress that a second poll is just one option and that all currently carry equal weight. But today Mr Starmer indicated that Labour should push for one to break the Brexit deadlock – at the same time as trying to secure a general election. – Mirror Dominic Raab calls on May to rule out Brexit extension and demands new negotiating team in Brussels The former Brexit Secretary branded moves by MPs to push the Prime Minister into extending Britain’s membership of the European Union as an “extraordinary and undemocratic thing to do”. Dominic Raab claimed the Prime Minister should go back to Brussels and demand they cave in on the crucial changes to her Withdrawal Agreement needed to win a majority in Parliament. Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, Mr Raab said: “If there’s an attempt to reverse the referendum, stop Brexit altogether I think that would cut across not only the democratic mandate, the biggest in history we had. “I think also if you look at current public opinion and how it’s shifted by two to one as I said people want us to respect the referendum.” Mr Raab went on to say that to break the deadlock with Brussels the negotiating team should be changed, he said: “For all the great work the civil servants have done, I think to close this deal it needs to be politically led and driven so taken into control of the politicians.” – Express > WATCH: Former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab’s full Sophy Ridge on Sunday Interview Corbyn accuses Government of ‘wasting’ billions on no-deal planning The Labour leader reaffirmed his refusal to meet Theresa May to discuss a way forward unless she is prepared to rule out a no-deal break. Labour said that over the last two Budgets, Chancellor Philip Hammond had assigned £4.2 billion to no-deal preparations – money which could have been used to support public services. Of that, the party said £1.5 billion was being spent in the current financial year – the equivalent of £171,000 an hour.”We’re ready to talk to the Government and others in Parliament about a sensible alternative plan, but not while Theresa May is wasting £171,000 an hour of taxpayers’ money on dangerous and unnecessary no-deal brinkmanship,” Mr Corbyn said. “May’s no-deal threat is empty and hugely expensive, wasting billions of pounds we should be spending on vital public services. – Belfast Telegraph Liam Fox accuses MPs of trying to ‘steal’ Brexit from the people The International Trade Secretary angrily accused backbenchers of trying to “steal” Brexit from the British people who voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum. At least two cross-party groups of MPs are planning to table amendments to enable backbenchers to take control of the business of the House to delay or frustrate Theresa May’s Brexit plans. Dr Fox warned that the political consequences if Parliament went back on the referendum result would be “astronomical”. “You’ve got a Leave population and a Remain Parliament,” he told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show. “Parliament has not got the right to hijack the Brexit process because Parliament said to the people of this country, ‘We make a contract with you, you will make the decision and we will honour it’. What we are now getting is some of those who always absolutely opposed the result of the referendum trying to hijack Brexit and in fact steal the result from the people.” – Belfast Telegraph Remainer MPs trying to steal Brexit, says Liam Fox – BBC News MPs seeking to wrest control of Commons from Government accused of hijacking Brexit – Telegraph (£) > WATCH: International Trade Secretary Liam Fox’s interview on The Andrew Marr Show Carmakers ramp up preparations for a no-deal Brexit Manufacturers are preparing alternative regulatory arrangements, a key concern for the closely supervised vehicle industry. Toyota, Honda and Bentley are among the car manufacturers with major British factories who have looked to new regulators in the EU since the Brexit vote. Meanwhile, Vauxhall and BMW have joined the list of manufacturers to start stockpiling parts to cover at least a few days of disruption. Brexit border delays threaten to disrupt the supply of parts from the EU to the UK immediately after the planned departure date, on 29 March. All new car models sold in the UK and the EU must gain “type approval” from regulators. Type approval from Britain’s Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) is currently valid across Europe but the European commission in February warned carmakers that this will cease after Brexit, forcing multiple companies to look outside the UK. – Guardian Home Office at risk of Windrush-style scandal over EU migrant settlement scheme The Government risks a new ‘Windrush scandal” unless it makes urgent improvements to its scheme to allow 3.5m EU citizens to settle in the UK, says think tank British Future. Its research suggested as many as 30% of EU citizens risked being left out because of not knowing about the scheme, not realising it applied to them, struggling to provide evidence or residency or finding the system hard to navigate. As of Monday, all Europeans residing in the UK with a biometric passport will be able to apply to settle in the UK under the final testing stage of the EU settlement scheme before the full public launch on March 30. They will have until the June 30 2021 to apply and will be entitled to settlement rights irrespective of a Brexit deal or no deal. However, nearly a quarter of people told the Government they found it difficult, although improvements to the process have been made. Jill Rutter, Director of Strategy for British Future, said: “The Home Office must invest in getting the EU Settlement Scheme right from the start. Failure to do so could cause massive problems in years to come, on a far bigger scale than the ‘Windrush scandal’.” – Telegraph (£) Warnings of new ‘Windrush scandal’ over ‘hostile’ scheme to register EU citizens – Metro ‘Big Short’ guru says Corbyn bigger risk than a no-deal Brexit The “Big Short” investor Steve Eisman has warned that a Jeremy Corbyn government would be a bigger threat to UK markets than a hard Brexit. Mr Eisman, who shorted the US housing market before the financial crisis, also told The Daily Telegraph that he was shorting three UK banks – up from two in October due to a perceived heightened chance of a hard Brexit. An additional 30 UK stocks are being monitored by Mr Eisman, who would consider a short position in the event of a Corbyn government. The stocks were across a mixture of industries, he said, although he would not reveal which sectors. He was not shorting sterling, because he did not “do currencies”. “Corbyn is a bigger risk than a hard Brexit,” said Mr Eisman, who was played by Steve Carell in the film version of The Big Short, the book by Michael Lewis about the 2008 crisis. He now works for investment manager Neuberger Berman. He said this belief was not based on his view of what would be good or bad for the economy, but what would affect markets by rattling investors. – Telegraph (£) Nigel Farage to lead new pro-Brexit party if EU departure delayed Nigel Farage is being lined up as leader of a new pro-Brexit party if Britain’s departure from the European Union is delayed beyond 29 March. The former Ukip leader said he had offered his enthusiastic support to the Brexit party after being sounded out as its potential leader. Catherine Blaiklock, Ukip’s former economics spokeswoman, confirmed she had applied to register the party with the Electoral Commission on 11 January and that it would be ready to fight any snap general election or the local elections across England in May. Farage told the Sun on Sunday: “There is huge demand for a party that’s got real clarity on this issue. You can see and hear the frustration welling up out there. It’s clear the political elite want to stop Brexit in its tracks and the prime minister doesn’t have the strength or inclination to see this through.” – Guardian Leave campaign mobilises for ‘inevitable’ second Brexit referendum – Telegraph (£) Jacinda Ardern: Whatever Britain decides about its new place in the world, New Zealand stands with you As a spectator from afar, there seems to be one constant theme in global politics right now. Change. That includes in the UK, a place I don’t just consider a longstanding partner to New Zealand, but my former home. In the mid-2000s I travelled to the UK, worked as a civil servant and lived in London, everywhere from Wood Green to Vauxhall and Brixton. I came home with many things – including a love of Branston Pickle, park picnics and a significant tea habit. But I also returned with a deep personal connection to your country, and an appreciation of New Zealand’s special relationship with the UK. We all know our shared history. After all, around four in every five New Zealanders still claims British heritage; our foundational Treaty of Waitangi of 1840 was signed by Māori chiefs and representatives of Queen Victoria, and our people served alongside one another through two world wars. We share common political and legal systems, our Westminster parliamentary tradition, our apolitical public service, and the direct relationship New Zealanders enjoy. Whatever you decide about your place in the global community, New Zealand is committed to making our excellent relations even closer, and to ensuring that the links between our people continue to flourish. We’ve already built strong connections with each other. In a world of uncertainty and change, now is the time to make them even stronger. – Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, for the Telegraph (£) Boris Johnson: These feeble plots won’t stop Brexit – but they are destroying public trust in our politicians Don’t be fooled. In the next few days and weeks we are going to be treated to such an ecstasy of parliamentary plotmanship that the ordinary punter is going to start wondering who the hell is Prime Minister of this country – Theresa May or Erskine May? What price the Boles proposals? Whither Grieve? Will David Lidington be asked by some conclave of parliamentary cardinals to depose the Prime Minister and assume supreme power in the land? Already the office of the Speaker is starting to silt up with complicated wheezes from our legislators, and in the coming weeks there will so many amendments, feints, ruses, motions that the voter will ask himself or herself – just what do our MPs think they are doing? They won’t stop Brexit. They won’t even succeed in delaying it. But by seeming so blatantly to go against the wishes of the electorate, they will contribute to a very damaging feeling of a gap – and a growing gap – between the public and the political elite. Did you see Question Time on Thursday, and hear the roar of audience approval for the suggestion that no deal might now be the best option? There is a sense in which the public are braver – and wiser – than their MPs. – Boris Johnson MP for the Telegraph(£) Richard Vaughan: How Theresa May’s battered Brexit plan and the DUP are key markers on the road out of the EU It is a sign of the strange times we live in that Theresa May’s Brexit deal is still viewed by many as the most likely route through to securing the UK’s departure from the European Union. Despite suffering the heaviest defeat in parliamentary history last week, when a majority of 230 MPs roundly rejected the withdrawal agreement, the Prime Minister is expected to make only tweaks to the deal. In truth, much will hinge on which of the amendments to the motion get voted through. An amendment tabled by the former attorney general Dominic Grieve and the cross-bench bid led by Tory Nick Boles will see Parliament wrestle for control of the Brexit process out of Mrs May’s hands. Should that happen then a softer Brexit – or even no Brexit at all – becomes much more likely. Brexiteers within the Tory ranks may then be tempted to hold their noses and wave through the Prime Minister’s divorce deal. But as one Cabinet source pointed out last week, there is no majority for any of these Brexit end games so consensus and compromise must be hammered out. – Richard Vaughan for iNews James Forsyth: May goes back to the backstop It is now clear that May’s approach is to try and put the Tory DUP alliance back together by getting something on the backstop rather than trying to find some cross party consensus. One of the reasons for this is that the Labour leadership’s reluctance to play ball makes it very hard to get the numbers for any compromise deal. I am told that David Lidington, who had been leading the cross party talks, reluctantly acknowledged this point. As one Cabinet Minister put it to me, ‘This kills the system’s desire for a customs-union style solution.’ Interestingly, the other Cabinet Minister involved in the cross-party talks—Michael Gove—talked about how the deadlock might lead to a general election. Getting the bulk of the ERG back on board will, I suspect, be considerably easier than winning over the DUP. A small but growing number in the ERG can see that there is a growing risk that Brexit won’t happen at all, and so might be prepared to accept a compromise on the backstop. The DUP, though, won’t settle for anything that isn’t legally binding. – James Forsyth for The Spectator Paul Goodman: The independent MPs who could hold May’s fate in their hands In 1979, before Sinn Fein became an electoral force in Northern Ireland, Fermanagh and South Tyrone was represented in the Commons by an independent Republican, Frank Maguire. He was only an occasional attender – he ran Frank’s Bar, a pub in public house in Lisnaskea – but, that year, he made all the difference. This infrequent Commons voter, inclined to abstentionism in the Irish Republican tradition, travelled to Westminster for a no-confidence debate in Jim Callaghan’s Government to “abstain in person”. Callaghan lost by 311 votes to 310. The scene for the Thatcher years was set. Today, as Westminster’s rumour mill grinds out speculation about a coming general election, it is well worth casting an eye at Maguire’s successors today – the eight oddly-assorted independents who hold Theresa May’s fate in their hands in the event of tight votes, and could decide a no confidence motion one way or another. Eight is not a large number – but big enough, it seems, to include no fewer than seven categories, five of them related to Labour. – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome Telegraph: This band of Remainer MPs pose a threat to Brexit and to democracy The calamitous situation in Parliament is being exploited by a small band of MPs determined to use any mechanism, however constitutionally absurd and deleterious to the public’s faith in our democratic institutions, to stop Brexit. At the centre of the battle is the prospect of Britain leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement in 10 weeks’ time on March 29. It is perfectly reasonable – self-evident, even – for MPs to say that they would prefer a good deal to a no-deal Brexit. It is equally fine to argue that there is still time to correct the mistakes in Theresa May’s agreement that led to its defeat last week. This would require the EU seeing sense, of course. But there is nothing reasonable or logical about ruling out no deal altogether. Not only would doing so scandalously cripple the UK’s negotiating position at the very moment the Government should be demanding concessions from Brussels, but if it involves MPs voting to excise from legislation the date of the UK’s exit from the EU – 29 March 2019 – it would remove the only guarantee the public has that Brexit will happen. – Telegraph (£) editorial Peter Foster: Amending the Good Friday Agreement will never fix the backstop issue Theresa May’s latest ruse to finesse the issue of the Irish border flies in the face of both political and legal reality. The plan, it is reported, is to “amend” the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in order make a new joint Anglo-Irish commitment that there will be no return to a hard border in Ireland and no infrastructure on that border in any eventuality. It is argued that this, coupled with some new EU concessions time-limiting the backstop, will be enough get a decent slice of the 118 Tory and 10 DUP on board. But the mere suggestion that a British government wants to ‘amend’ the Good Friday Agreement should set alarm bells ringing – imagine if Sinn Fein or the DUP were seeking to amend sections of the agreement on policing, say, or citizenship? The idea that the other 26 EU member states and the European Commission will allow London and Dublin to simply codify a ‘no infrastructure’ agreement amongst themselves and then ‘drop the backstop’ is, to quote one senior EU official briefed on the idea, “insane”. – Peter Foster for the Telegraph(£) The Sun: Tory plotters need to understand the concept of winning and losing and not hand victory to those defeated in the Brexit referendum What is it about the simple concept of winning and losing that the wretched Tory plotters cannot grasp? Not only do they want to hand victory to those defeated in the referendum — they want to do so via a minority of MPs hijacking Brexit, dictating terms to the Government and forcing a vote to suspend our Article 50 notice. It is an insane attempt to upend the ancient political principle that a Government with a majority governs. It is a bid for power without a mandate. Shifty Dominic Grieve fancies himself as a Remain superhero, outwitting the Government to rob 17.4million voters. He doesn’t give a damn about the little people, of course, being a grand QC and former Attorney General. But Grieve is doing catastrophic harm to his party, to Parliament and our democracy. History won’t be kind to him. – The Sun says Chloe Westley: Ageist abuse – and the bigoted Remain campaigners who rejoice when older voters die For the last two and a half years, Leave voters have been called every name under the sun. Racist, xenophobic, fascist, far right, uneducated – and many more too horrid to list on this website. Those on the Remain side have experienced abuse as well, which I’ve seen online, and I do my best to call all this out whenever I can. Social media has brought out the worst in us. The key difference I have observed is that the insults directed at Leave voters have invariably originated from those in positions of power. For most Leave voters, their only means of having their voice heard is by the ballot box. But celebrities, politicians and journalists use their huge platforms to discredit and demean Leave voters in a variety of ways. This was endurable on the condition that the eventually these attacks would end. It was assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that Britain was on track to leave the EU and eventually those hurling insults would come to accept this new reality and move on with their lives. But the bullying has intensified. And the latest victim of this vile abuse and blame, the group that is under the most attack from pro-EU groups, are the elderly. – Chloe Westley for ConservativeHome Anthony Browne: The problem with backing out of Brexit Are we suffering a national humiliation? There has been a lot of commentary – not least from elements of the Remain-supporting press – about how the UK has become an international laughing stock. Papers in other countries have joined in the chuckling. Recent events have not been good for our reputation for stability and sanity. However, the one thing that the UK could do to destroy what international credibility it has left, is to change its mind on Brexit, and go back to the EU asking whether we can stay after all. Our national humiliation would be complete. We would be the employee who stormed out publicly, insisting to everyone that they could make it on their own, only to beg their employer to take them back. The main problem for Brexiteers is this pervasive national defeatism, the pride in belittling our own country, this obsession with what we can’t do rather than what we can do. Brexit is a confidence issue. And it might just be that we don’t have the national confidence to see it through. – Anthony Browne for The Spectator Brexit in Brief May has misread the mood of the country over free movement. Now is the time to drop hostile rhetoric – Steve Double MP for ConservativeHome Labour denies reports it has lost 150,000 members over Brexit stance – Independent Verhofstadt’s Brexit rage as he gloats UK will return to EU ‘where it belongs’ – Express