Theresa May urged to rush Brexit through Parliament… Theresa May is being pushed by senior ministers to present parliament with a resolution — rather than a full bill — if the government is forced to grant a vote on activating Article 50. Such a step could allow the Commons and Lords to rubber-stamp the start of the Brexit process in a single day, but risks angering Remain MPs who want close scrutiny of the government’s negotiating position… Primary legislation could take six weeks to clear both houses of parliament, however, as well as offering MPs and peers huge scope to set conditions on their approval… One well-placed ministerial source said: “At the end of the day, if parliament were to vote on a resolution then I don’t think the court would second-guess that.” – The Times (£) …as Tom Watson insists Labour will not block the triggering of Article 50 after Corbyn hinted otherwise on Sunday On Sunday, deputy leader Tom Watson made clear the party would not block the result of the referendum vote, after Jeremy Corbyn appeared to suggest he could oppose the Prime Minister’s attempts to trigger Article 50. The Labour leader told the Sunday Mirror he would be demanding Theresa May seeks to keep Britain in the EU’s single market and may vote against triggering Article 50 if she does not. However, Mr Watson told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We’re not going to hold this up. The British people have spoken and Article 50 will be triggered when it comes to Westminster.” Sources close to Mr Corbyn have also attempted to clarify the position, saying: “We won’t be seeking to block Article 50, only amend or influence the Government’s negotiating terms if they do not meet our red lines. Our support for invoking article 50 is unconditional, but we would seek to amend or influence the Government’s negotiating terms.” – The Independent >WATCH: Tom Watson MP: Article 50 will be triggered when it comes to Westminster and Labour will not hold it up Scottish Brexit Minister: SNP has a ‘triple mandate’ to block Brexit – The National Christian May: The Brexit vote has revealed Jeremy Corbyn’s irrelevance – here’s how – City A.M. Jeremy Hunt says economy will be ‘far worse’ if Brexit strategy is revealed… The damage done to the British economy as a result of Brexit will be “far worse” if Theresa May is forced to reveal her negotiating strategy to MPs before going to Brussels, Jeremy Hunt has claimed. Warning pro-European MPs not to derail the Government’s planned timetable for Brexit, the Health Secretary said they should support the triggering of Article 50 for the good of the country when it comes to a parliamentary vote. – The i …as he hints that May could call a snap election if Brexit stalls Theresa May will call a general election if MPs and peers vote down legislation to trigger Brexit, Jeremy Hunt has suggested, as he became the first Cabinet minister to discuss openly the prospect of an early poll… The remarks were backed up by other ministers and Tory MPs who said Mr Hunt was accepting that Mrs May would have to use the “nuclear option” of an election if Parliament blocked the start of talks about Britain leaving the European Union. – Daily Telegraph > WATCH: Jeremy Hunt MP: Damage to our democracy will be worse if parliament blocks Brexit Theresa May defends the media after attacks on Brexit judges… The Daily Mail accused judges of being “Enemies of the People” after the high court ruled that Parliament had the right to scrutinise the government ahead of the triggering of Article 50. A number of articles criticised the ruling. Speaking to journalists en route to a trade mission in India Theresa May said: “I believe in the independence of the judiciary. I also value the freedom of the press. I think both these underpin our democracy and they are important.” – Sky News Hands off the Daily Mail – Paul Goodman on ConservativeHome …while also defending the judiciary Theresa May and her justice secretary, Liz Truss, have been forced to defend the three high court judges who made the controversial high court judgment about Brexit in the face of days of public backlash. Truss, whose silence on Friday as criticism of the judgment intensified had infuriated senior lawyers, issued a public statement on Saturday night defending the integrity of the lord chief justice… “The lord chief justice is a man of great integrity and impartiality. Like all judges, he has sworn an oath to administer the law without fear or favour, affection or ill will,” Truss said. Separately, Theresa May… defended the right of the judges to issue their ruling, but would not condemn the media backlash over the issue. – The Guardian Nigel Farage warns of protests in row over referendum… UKIP leader Nigel Farage has warned of disturbances on the streets if Parliament tries to block Brexit. He told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show there would be “political anger the likes of which none of us in our lifetimes have ever witnessed”. [Farage added]: “Now, I’m going to say to everybody watching this who was on the Brexit side – let’s try and get even, let’s have peaceful protests and let’s make sure in any form of election we don’t support people who want to overturn this process.” – BBC …as he plans to lead a 100,000-strong march to the Supreme Court Nigel Farage is planning to lead a 100,000-strong march to the Supreme Court to coincide with the start of the Government’s attempt to stop peers and MPs delaying Brexit. The march, organised by the anti-European Union campaign Leave.EU, will end with a rally in Parliament Square within sight of the court building where judges will be hearing the appeal. The march will most likely take place on December 5, which is the likely first day of the hearing. The Supreme Court has cleared four days for the hearing which will be streamed live on the internet. – Daily Telegraph EU review casts doubt on City’s hopes for ‘equivalence’ as Brexit last resort Brussels is reconsidering how it grants EU market access to overseas financial firms, casting doubt over the use of the bloc’s “equivalence” arrangements as a fallback option for the City of London after Brexit… Any move to tighten the access regime would signal that Brussels will let Britain take nothing for granted in negotiations to leave the EU. It would also be a blow to the US and more than a dozen jurisdictions, who fear approval for their pending applications will be waylaid by Brexit politics. – FT (£) European Commission to examine terms of UK’s deal with Nissan The European commission is examining the details of Britain’s secret deal with Nissan, it can be revealed. Officials in Brussels have made contact with the UK government to find out what promises the business secretary, Greg Clark, made to the Japanese carmaker to keep its business in the UK. – The Guardian UK promises bespoke visas to woo Indian investors after Brexit Prime Minister Theresa May pledged to smooth the path to the U.K. for India’s wealthiest investors as she embarked on a mission to boost links with the sub-continent after Brexit. Arriving in New Delhi on Sunday, the premier unveiled what her office called a “bespoke” fast-track visa service for “high net-worth” Indians and their families and promised quicker border checks for all business travelers from India to Britain. – Bloomberg Modi: UK must open doors for India’s students – The Scotsman Theresa May rejects calls to relax Indian visa rules – Daily Telegraph Dramatic new migration barriers post-Brexit could hit the UK’s future growth, claims Chatham House think-tank The UK recorded more than double the growth of Eurozone peers between 2010 and 2015, with Chatham House attributing the difference to aggressive monetary policy, rapid interventions into the financial sector and a flexible labour market. However, it adds that such performance was not possible without openness to foreign capital and labour, warning that a “hard Brexit” risks diminishing the UK’s attractiveness to both foreign investors and workers. – City A.M. Yvette Cooper MP: We must not allow Parliament and ‘the people’ to be pitted against each other in this phoney row over Article 50 Most MPs will not vote against Article 50. Nor is there any serious chance that the House of Lords will block Article 50 – as Labour in the Lords has already made clear. We’ve had a referendum, people voted in good faith. In the interests of democracy, that result has to be respected. I voted Remain in June, but I am among very many MPs in Parliament who believe that we have a responsibility to try to make Brexit work in everyone’s interest now… This is a court judgement about process not outcome because the outcome (triggering Article 50) won’t change. And given that Theresa May would probably have been forced into some kind of Parliamentary vote by political pressure in the end, the Judges’ decision makes less difference to events than people think. – Yvette Cooper MP for the Huffington Post Dominic Lawson: The law really is an ass if it allows Brexit to be betrayed I am sure those High Court judges were acting conscientiously and in accordance with what they believed to be the dictates of the law when they sided with Pannick’s arguments, rather than those of the much less impressive Government team. But that does not mean their judgment can’t be questioned. And, indeed, I have received comments from a number of constitutional lawyers saying exactly that. – Dominic Lawson for the Daily Mail Mark Boleat: Britain needs a transitional deal to avoid a cliff-edge of Brexit uncertainty With Article 50 due to be triggered by the end of March next year, the UK has two years in which to complete negotiations. With so much riding on this, it is unlikely that plans will be finalised before 2019. Take the recent trade deal between Canada and the EU, which took no fewer than seven years to complete… While we don’t anticipate negotiations to take quite that long, it does highlight the need for a transitional agreement to ensure that, over the coming years, the UK’s exit from the EU runs as smoothly as possible. – Mark Boleat, City of London Policy and Resources Committee Chairman for City A.M. Philip Stephens: Theresa May pitches for a ‘long’ Brexit Mrs May has two political goals. The first is to guarantee that Britain is formally outside the EU well before the election due in mid-2020: “The people voted for Brexit and I delivered it.” The second is to ensure that the costs of severing ties with the EU are not so high as to sink the economy and with it the government’s standing. Her preference, though nothing yet is decided, seems to be an Article 50 negotiation that has as one of its central objectives agreement on a long transition period — five years or more — in which most of the trickier aspects of the divorce are settled. – Philip Stephens for the FT (£) Ministers press for interim EU deal to avoid article 50 ‘cliff edge’ – The Guardian Mats Persson: Learn lessons from failed negotiation There is one certainty about Brexit: it will not be easy. To come out successful, the government could start by learning from what we did right and wrong during the EU renegotiation that preceded June’s referendum… If there is one rule for a Conservative Prime Minister in EU talks it’s probably that you can get more than your civil servants claim, but less than your backbenchers think. I suspect that will be true of the Brexit talks as well. – Mats Persson, former EU Special Adviser to David Cameron for The Times (£) May ‘must resist officials who cut her EU options’ – The Times (£) Tom Thackray: Britain must raise its game on innovation to make a success of Brexit The UK was on firm foundations going into the referendum. We must build on this so growth and opportunity reach all of the UK’s regions. Developing the best environment for companies to innovate will ensure that they do. Innovation can help address our long-standing productivity problem and, following the referendum, an ambitious commitment to innovation would help businesses to get on with developing fantastic new products and services that will enable them to expand internationally. – Tom Thackray, CBI Director of Innovation for City A.M. Toby Orr: Brexit should be good for Africa, and Africa could be good for Brexit, too The Africa Prosperity Partnership, as it could be called, would then be the gold standard of trade and development policy the world over. It would be a powerful motor for employment and prosperity across Africa. Importantly too, it would offer the best possible proof that Britain outside the EU is a force for good internationally and provide a sharp riposte to those who believe Brexit means our retreat from the world. Brexit should not only be good for Africa, but Africa could be good for Brexit too. – Toby Orr for the Daily Telegraph Brexit comment in brief Courts row over Brexit is merely a sideshow – Brian Monteith for The Scotsman It’s time those trying to overturn Brexit decide what kind of democracy they actually believe in – The Sun editorial Why we respect the law in a democracy – John Redwood’s Diary Lib Dem peers should remember Asquith – Douglas Carswell’s blog Sturgeon being left behind in Brexit legal fight – Lesley Riddoch for The Scotsman Brexit: we will never back a deal that is bad for Wales – Leanne Wood AM for The Times (£) Red Box Ignore the leavers’ tantrums – it’s time for us to build Brexit Britain – Zoe Williams for the Guardian Why Brexit may revive Liberal Democrats – Charlie Cooper for Politico The Government is well placed to deliver on Brexit – Leo McKinstry for the Daily Express CETA isn’t perfect, but Europe’s radical left was wrong to oppose it – Natalie Nougayrède for the Guardian Brexit news in brief City bosses torn over Brexit ruling – City A.M. Remainers have already raised £75,000 to defend High Court ruling on Brexit – Metro Former European Commissioner Lord Patten says Sajid Javid should be sacked for calling High Court ruling ‘unacceptable’ – PoliticsHome Prince Andrew in Royal Brexit row as he tells business leaders leaving the EU risks ‘tearing everything apart’ – The Sun The Government has failed to explain Article 50 to young people properly, survey suggests – The Independent