Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team EU leaders formally agree to move Brexit talks to the next stage… EU leaders have agreed to move Brexit talks on to the second phase but called for “further clarity” from the UK about the future relationship it wants. The first issue to be discussed, early next year, will be the details of an expected two-year transition period after the UK’s exit in March 2019. Talks on trade and security co-operation are set to follow in March. Theresa May hailed an “important step” on the road but Germany’s Angela Merkel said it would get “even tougher”. Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, broke the news that the 27 EU leaders were happy to move on to phase two after they met in Brussels. – BBC EU agrees in minutes to start trade talks – The Times (£) The inside story of how Theresa May and Britain’s Brexit team secured the deal with the EU – Telegraph (£) 4 takeaways from the EU summit – Politico Theresa May has secured a minor triumph. But we cannot afford any more missteps – Telegraph editorial (£) > Watch on BrexitCentral’s Youtube Channel: Juncker praises a ‘Tough, smart, polite and friendly negotiator’ > Watch on BrexitCentral’s Youtube Channel: Donald Tusk congratulates the ‘constructive effort’ of May …although they say Britain must accept ECJ rulings until 2021 EU leaders have been accused of trying to “bind” Britain to Brussels for years to come after they insisted the UK must bow to the will of the European Court of Justice until 2021. Negotiating guidelines for the second phase of the Brexit talks published by the European Council state that “all existing European structures” including the “competence” of the ECJ will apply to the UK throughout the two-year transition period. But leading Brexiteers said staying in the ECJ for another four years meant “delaying Brexit until 2021”. – Telegraph (£) Brexit is going to get harder, EU leaders warn Theresa May – Independent No10 tells EU to forget banking our £39 billion unless it boosts UK’s divorce deal Europe’s bosses are ready only to offer “a political declaration” of future hopes — a far cry from the full trade deal Mrs May asked for in exchange for paying the £39 billion. Full discussions will commence in March, but EU Council boss Donald Tusk said behind the scenes ‘exploratory contacts’ on a trade and security deal can start now. A senior No10 source hit back: “The Prime Minister has repeatedly said we want to get a trade deal agreed by the time we leave, and that’s what we’re going to do”. And while talks on a two-year transition from 2019 will start next month, the EU said it would not be ready to talk about trade until March… A Whitehall source added: “We won’t let the more glacial elements of the EU Commission use these guidelines as an excuse to freeze up”. – The Sun Britain’s Brexit vision should be a free trade deal in exchange for our £39 billion ‘divorce’ settlement – The Sun editorial Ministers appear set to head off a backbench rebellion over exit date The government looks likely to avoid another potential Commons defeat on Brexit, the BBC understands. Tory rebels have been concerned about plans to put the Brexit date and time – 11pm on 29 March 2019 – into law. But backbenchers have tabled an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill allowing some flexibility. Ministers are highly likely to accept the amendment in a vote next week, BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg said. It comes as EU leaders agreed to move to the next phase of Brexit talks. – BBC Theresa May set to avoid second Brexit rebellion by agreeing compromise deal with Tory mutineers – Telegraph (£) Dominic Grieve left to eat breakfast on his own – The Sun > Watch on BrexitCentral’s Youtube Channel: Hugh Bennett on BBC News says Brexit rebels won’t succeed Rees-Mogg says UK must not be EU ‘colony’ after Brexit A leading Brexiteer has said the UK cannot become a “colony” of the EU during the two year transition period after Britain’s withdrawal in 2019. EU leaders have agreed Brexit talks can move on, with the UK staying in the customs union, single market and under the European Court of Justice’s jurisdiction during the transition. Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said that would be unacceptable and said leaving under these terms would be “a ridiculous position to be in”. The transition which the EU is offering means that we’re still effectively in the European Union for the following two years,” he told Newsnight. – BBC Jacob Rees-Mogg accuses Government of Rolling Over – Express Splits among 27 EU leaders emerge over Brexit trade deal with Britain Splits began to emerge among EU leaders yesterday over how deep a Brexit trade deal to strike with Britain. While the 27 bosses were rock solid in their demands for divorce terms from the UK, their countries’ array of different interests mean the bloc is far from aligned on Phase Two of the negotiations. Confirming the divisions for the first time, Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar called for a broad deal that is “as much like the current arrangement as possible”. But that’s in stark contrast to France and Germany, who want to severely limit Britain’s access to the single market unless it signs up to all of Brussels’ rules. – The Sun > James Holland on BrexitCentral yesterday: Continental voices are now queuing up to demand a swift UK-EU trade deal Nigel Farage: Instead of patronising and betraying us, politicians should be harnessing the Leave vote Everybody knows that “soft” Brexit is Brexit in name only, the intention being that the UK should remain tied to EU single market rules. In a similar sense, when the Labour Party and the 11 Tory rebels who last night defeated the government in an effort to allow parliament a say on any final Brexit deal claim they acted in the name of parliamentary sovereignty, it’s impossible not to laugh. For decades the EU has stripped away national parliamentary sovereignty and hijacked all key decision-making duties. By once again trying to change the agenda in a bid to derail Brexit, Labour and the rebels are guilty of hypocrisy and of crass stupidity. – Nigel Farage MEP for the Telegraph (£) Farage’s fury as Brexit trade talks won’t start until March – Express ‘I’m 53, separated and skint’: Nigel Farage reveals the ‘price he has paid for Brexit’ – Daily Mail Robert Tombs: Brexit suggests we’re on the right side of history When I hear prominent Remainers unquestioningly supporting the demands of the EU Commission, however incoherent and excessive, I cannot but remember the opposition leader Charles James Fox happily admitting during the Napoleonic Wars that ‘The Triumph of the French government over the English does in fact afford me a degree of pleasure which is very difficult to disguise.’ Is this just coincidence? There does seem to be a sectarian strand in our political culture whose natural home is in what the French call ‘internal exile’. – Robert Tombs for the Spectator Mark Wallace: Yet another part of Project Fear is unravelling We’ve already seen various aspects of Project Fear, the over-the-top predictions of doom about voting to leave the EU, come unstuck. Most famously, the Treasury’s forecasts of immediate recession and huge job losses after such a vote have turned out to be the direct opposite of what’s actually happened. Another part of Project Fear which appears to be unravelling focuses on City jobs. A variety of specific numbers were flung about during and since the referendum campaign – as recently as June, the LSE’s Brexit unit published a warning from the former finance minister of Bulgaria that 17,000 jobs were set to be lost in investment banking alone, never mind in other sectors. – Mark Wallace for ConservativeHome Asa Bennett: European leaders are holding Theresa May close in the hope she doesn’t walk away What is behind this effusive display? The EU27 have avoided any moments of individual spontaneity. Out of respect to their desire to show “unity” against Britain, they have carefully choreographed their behaviour. That has been clear at recent summits, such as when Mrs May suddenly had Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel huddle up alongside in front of the cameras. Such scenes do not happen in Brussels by accident … Nigel Farage had enough to let off a pithy broadside on Twitter, observing about the EU27: “If I had just been given £40 billion without giving anything back I would applaud too”. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Brexit comment in brief The Cabinet needs to come together and hit the sweet spot on trade deal now – James Forsyth for the Sun Britain deserves respect in the Brexit talks given how much it has done to keep Europe safe – James Rogers for the Telegraph (£) Europe is still living with the consequences of the Lisbon Treaty – James Holland for CapX Is a soft Brexit compatible with regaining sovereignty? – Denis MacShane for City A.M. Business is key to the success of Brexit talks – Stephen Phipson for the Telegraph (£) Looking to create a ‘Global Britain’? Japan and the Royal Navy might hold the answer – John Hemmings for the Telegraph (£) Brexit news in brief Anglophones struggle to understand British dialects – The Times (£) Facebook: Russians spent just 73p on adverts during Brexit campaign – Telegraph (£) And finally… EU regulations set to defeat Cambridge University’s 300-year-old ‘class list’ tradition The European Union is set to defeat Cambridge’s 300-year-old “class list” tradition as incoming regulation has forced the climbdown that “snowflake” students could not. The lists – where students’ names are displayed alongside their degree grade on a board outside the university’s main building Senate House – now face abolition due to new data protection laws which will come into force next year. The issue has led to bitter divisions among the student body, but class lists survived votes of confidence from both students and academic staff last year. – Telegraph (£)