Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Cabinet ministers admit Britain could be plunged into legal abyss if Brexit deal is not cut by October Cabinet ministers have privately admitted Britain will be plunged into a legal abyss if a Brexit deal is not cut with Brussels by October, The Sun can reveal. A crisis meeting between the Brexit Department and Leader of the House of Commons concluded the Government will run out of time to bring in a dozen vital exit laws before exit day next March if they wait until November to start. If and when a deal is struck with Brussels and Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill will be needed to bring it in force, as well as other new laws to get Britain Brexit ready. If it is not ready then Britain will be left in a “legal limbo land” and out of the EU without a deal. But Commons timetabling boss Andrea Leadsom warned they will take months to travel through Parliament and face wrecking attempts from die-hard Remainers. She warned fellow ministers that with only a wafer thin working majority the Government would be unlikely to be able to use special Expedited Legislation measures that can speed things up in an emergency. – The Sun Ministers fear final Brexit deal might not be signed until December – i News EU officials hatch plan to delay Brexit in the wake of Commons shambles – The Sun Theresa May’s control of EU withdrawal rests on Wednesday’s knife-edge vote Theresa May has only one hope of saving Brexit and her job. She must win the crucial Commons votes on Wednesday. If not — and Tory Remainers successfully rule out us ever leaving with no deal — our negotiating position is toast. The EU will offer nothing. It will wait for talks to collapse and for those same Remainers to vote with their Labour allies to keep us tied to Brussels, paying in billions and accepting free movement. God help the Tories and our democracy if that happens. If the PM wins next week she MUST back Boris Johnson’s “max fac” plan for the Irish border issue. So should Cabinet Brexiters. – The Sun How long can Theresa May survive by kicking the can down the road? – The Times (£) Britain heading for softest Brexit or a last minute no deal crunch – Iain Martin for Reaction Davis fights back – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome Dominic Grieve vowed not to tie PM’s hands on Brexit – but does just that The Tory MP leading a rebel bid to tie Theresa May’s hands in Brexit talks pledged last year that he did not want to restrict her right to walk away from the negotiating table, it can be revealed. Former attorney general Dominic Grieve is at the centre of efforts by MPs to give themselves the power to order ministers to go back to Brussels or delay Brexit if there is no deal. But Mr Grieve faced criticism after it emerged that he had told the Commons just a year ago that he did not want to ‘fetter the Government’s hands in negotiations or indeed the Government’s right to walk away from the negotiations’. – Daily Mail ‘We’re not Brexit rebels, we’re pragmatic leavers,’ says Tory rebel – Guardian Theresa May has been ‘hijacked’ by Brexiteers to stop her compromising over EU laws, furious Tory rebels claim – The Sun > On BrexitCentral’s Twitter: Dominic Grieve says Parliament is “entitled” to force the Government to do as it says on Brexit… but that’s not what he said during the Article 50 debate last year How Tory rebels are leading Britain towards ‘Brexit in name only’ Next Saturday, tens of thousands of Remain supporters are expected to descend on London for what is billed as the biggest ever pro-European protest march. They will demand a “people’s vote” on the final Brexit deal – in other words a second referendum, with the ultimate aim of stopping Brexit. With just 286 days to go until Britain formally and legally leaves the EU, it might be assumed that their angry cries will be carried away on the wind. Yet there is a growing nervousness in Downing Street that a moment of genuine danger for the Brexit process is just days away. A highly-organised pro-European machine, lubricated by the cash of the financier George Soros, believes it is closer than at any time in the past two years to reversing the Article 50 process triggered by Theresa May in March last year. – Telegraph (£) ‘It’s ludicrous!’ Nigel Farage warns May’s Brexit plan is worse than being in EU – Express Business Secretary Greg Clark sparks fury by demanding we stay tied to EU customs rules until 2025 The Business Secretary has infuriated Cabinet colleagues by demanding Britain stays tied to the EU Customs Union for another SEVEN years. Greg Clark is part of the three-man inner Cabinet working group studying the proposed “Max Fac” customs plan but told them it would only work if it comes into force in 2025. The Maximum Facilitation plan would use technology to monitor goods to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland after Brexit, but critics say it won’t be ready by the end of the transition period in 2021. Last month Theresa May ordered two of her closest allies — Mr Clark and Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley — to sit down with Brexit Secretary David Davis and “make ‘Max Fac’ work”. The working group met on Friday morning but failed to agree when it could come into force. The Government have pledged to stay tied to Brussels customs rules until the new border plan is ready. – The Sun May urged to use ‘Brexit dividend’ to pay for big rise in healthcare funding Brexiteer MPs also suggested the Government should be prepared to cancel the expected £39billion EU “divorce” fee and redirect the money to healthcare in response to the lack of co-operation from Brussels in the withdrawal negotiations. Fresh Tory concerns about the Government’s NHS spending plans emerged yesterday following unconfirmed reports that the Prime Minister is poised to unveil a £4billion hike in health spending to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the NHS next month. A report – dismissed as “speculation” by Downing Street officials yesterday – claimed Mrs May planned to fund the spending rise through a combination of tax rises, extra borrowing and cash from the Brexit dividend. Ministers were considering freezing personal allowance income tax thresholds to raise extra revenue for NHS spending. – Express British taxpayers face £47m bill for revamp of MEPs’ Brussels building Britain could be liable for a €54 million bill to redesign a Brussels building housing a debating chamber for MEPs. The €420 million rebuild of the property, which is only 25 years old, will include improvements to catering services and facilities to avoid bumping into the public. The decision to rebuild the structure will be postponed until after next year’s European elections to avoid criticism of the parliament amid declining voter interest in the EU assembly. How much British taxpayers will pay depends on when tenders are signed. It is likely to be about €54 million (£47 million) if tenders are issued before the end of a Brexit transition period at the end of 2020. – The Times (£) Government hits back as SNP declares ‘guerrilla war’ on Brexit The UK government has hit back following a week of attacks from the SNP over its handling of devolution and Brexit, claiming “we don’t have to tiptoe around anymore” when dealing with Scottish ministers. In a sign that relations between the governments in Edinburgh and London have reached a new low, a senior UK source said: “We’ve been walking on eggshells. At least now all the eggs are broken.” – Scotsman David Lidington says UK wants ‘closest possible’ security cooperation with EU after Brexit The UK is seeking the “closest possible cooperation agreement” with Europe on security and foreign policy when it leaves the bloc, cabinet minister David Lidington has said. Speaking to Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, Lidington, who serves as Theresa May’s number two following the resignation of Damian Green, said Britain would be tempted to join a crisis intervention force if certain conditions were met. One condition would be that London had control over the deployment of British troops abroad. Britain has repeatedly said it wants to be part of intelligence and security sharing with its European neighbours to combat the effects of global terrorism. – City A.M. Siemens will build factory in UK after winning tube train contract Siemens, the German train manufacturer, has beaten Bombardier and Hitachi’s British factories to a long awaited £2.5 billion contract to provide state-of-the-art rolling stock for London Underground. The good news for British manufacturing is that the contract win will trigger Siemens’ commitment to build a £200 million factory at Goole in the East Riding of Yorkshire to make the trains for the Tube, directly employing 700 workers and a further 1,700 in the local supply chain. Siemens, which already provides trains for South West Railway and Thameslink manufactured at Krefeld near Dusseldorf, has been told to design, engineer and build an initial 94 trains for the Piccadilly line in a contract worth £1.5 billion. They will replace rolling stock that has been running since the 1970s. There will probably be a further £1 billion manufacturing contract for an additional 150 trains for the other deep Tube networks of the Central, Bakerloo and the Waterloo & City line. – The Times (£) Angela Merkel facing battle to save her coalition as immigration row splits Europe Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, is to hold last-ditch talks to save her coalition government this weekend amid a major European rift over migrant policy. The German chancellor is facing open rebellion from her interior minister, Horst Seehofer, over his plans to turn away migrants at the German border. Mrs Merkel has blocked the measure but Mr Seehofer is threatening to impose it unilaterally if he doesn’t win agreement by Monday – essentially daring the chancellor to sack him. As leader of her Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), Mr Seehofer could pull it out of Mrs Merkel’s coalition if he is fired, depriving her of a majority in parliament. – Telegraph Without the UK, the EU can resume its march to ever closer union – Christian May for City A.M. Telegraph: What do Remain MPs really want? It’s time for some self-reflection The EU Withdrawal Bill debate, which resumes in Parliament next week, needs a dash of honesty and self-reflection. Remainer MPs, such as Dominic Grieve, insist that they do not want to stop Brexit. But they do seek to bind the hands of UK negotiators and give Parliament the opportunity to reject whatever they come back from Brussels with. That amounts to the power to stop Britain leaving the EU. The Tory rebels say they oppose a “hard Brexit”, even though each of them was elected to the Commons on a manifesto pledging to leave the single market and customs union – a manifesto that said “no deal is better than a bad deal”. That did not mean that Theresa May wants no deal, rather that it would be preferable to a deal that leaves Britain half in the EU, bound by its regulations but unable to trade freely. Moreover, the threat of walking away without an agreement strengthens Britain’s hand: that’s not a scenario that, for example, German car makers would welcome. – Telegraph editorial John Longworth: It’s now or never to secure a clean Brexit. Conservative ministers take note The strident and concerted attempt by the Remainer establishment, including the media, to overthrow the democratic will of the people has been shocking and has revealed a rottenness at the heart of the way our country is run. As a consequence there is massive disillusionment, despair and fury among rank and file Brexit supporters, Labour and Conservative, and the scale of the backlash will be unimaginable – albeit the form of this is not clear and could be perverse. The Government has been duped at every turn by a bullying and determined EU backed by Germany, itself determined to pursue the EU project at any cost. This latter fact became very apparent to me when I visited Berlin at the beginning of 2017. – John Longworth for the Telegraph (£) James Forsyth: Prime Minister Theresa May cannot escape being known as the Brexit PM – whether she likes it or not Theresa May will next week announce a massive cash injection for the NHS – as Tom Newton Dunn revealed in this paper yesterday. In normal times, this would be one of the defining moments of her premiership. She has chosen to prioritise the health service over all other areas of public spending. This is a big statement for any Tory Prime Minister to make. But the announcement will be overshadowed by the latest parliamentary drama regarding Brexit. Everyone at Westminster will be waiting to see if Mrs May can win her Wednesday showdown with Remainer Tory rebels about how much control Parliament should have over the Brexit process. If she wins, some of her authority will be restored. But if she doesn’t, her position will be even weaker and Britain’s negotiating stance will be undermined still further. – James Forsyth for The Sun Charles Moore: Remain zealots forget that democracy in Britain is all about meaningful votes Number 32 Smith Square, Westminster, is a famous address. It used to be the Conservative Party headquarters. From its windows in 1979, in 1983 and in 1987, Margaret Thatcher waved to the crowds celebrating her successive general election victories. Early this century, in an act of real-estate revenge, it became the London office of the European Commission. It was there, on Wednesday, that a secret meeting took place of the Provisional wing of the Remainer movement – fanatical cells like Open Britain, George Soros’s comically named group Best for Britain, various peers who wish to curtail the power of the elected House of Commons and Tony Blair’s former simple sword of truth, Alastair Campbell – gathered to discuss tactics. (Question to Michel Barnier and EU Commissioners: is it normal for you to lend your premises to people who are trying to undermine the position of the Government with which you are negotiating?) – Charles Moore for the Telegraph (£) Tom Harris: Devout Remainers have decided they love the EU more than the NHS Britain’s MEPs are heading towards forced early retirement next May. Many of them, from across the political spectrum, are extremely capable individuals who I hope and trust will find their way into UK national politics. Those that do will find the role of MP startlingly different from that of a representative at Strasbourg and Brussels. For a start, some voters will actually recognise them. Whether we eventually face a hard or a soft Brexit, the one thing all sides can agree on is that Britain will no longer elect Members of the European Parliament. So, what will be their role in the next year? There was a time when I assumed, naively, that they would pile in behind the government’s efforts to secure as good a deal as possible from the EU27. Their united voice in pursuit of that goal would have been a considerable force. – Tom Harris for the Telegraph (£) John Redwood: The benefits of Brexit The Prime Minister tells us the government is committed to Brexit and wishes to deliver the benefits it can bring. That is good news. I look forward to early news from the government on the following. First, I want to know how all the money saved is going to be spent, and a sense of urgency in getting us out of financial commitments as soon as possible. I have set out my own suggestions for increased spending on health, social care and other priorities. Spending that money at home gives a 0.6% GDP boost and saves us a lot of money on our balance of payments deficit. Second, I want to see our new fishing policy as we become an independent coastal state. We need a policy that is kinder to our fish and our fishermen, and which lands more the fish caught in the UK for UK consumption. Third, I want to see a new migration and borders policy which is fair between EU and non EU migrants, and assists the government in hitting its targets for levels of migration. – John Redwood’s Diary Brexit in brief EU outrage over Trump’s tariffs is a shameless double standard – Tim Worstall for City A.M. Eastern Europe is a real threat to the City – Matthew Lynn for the Telegraph (£) Brexiteers won the battle but not the war – Get Britain Out’s Joshua King How a week in politics has made a backstop deal more remote – Tony Connelly for RTE Growth in EU car market ‘flattens out’ in May – FT (£)