May insists Britain still on track to start Brexit talks by end of March Theresa May on Friday reiterated that her government “stands ready to trigger Article 50” and kick off Britain’s divorce proceedings from the European Union “by the end of March.” May made the comments in Berlin, where she met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and three other European leaders, gathered in the German capital for the last talks with outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama. – Politico The Prime Minister defiantly said Article 50 will be invoked before April 2017 in a joint statement with German Chancellor Angela Merkel – Daily Mirror May and Merkel discuss refugees and Russia, but Brexit off table – The Guardian Theresa May has a Trump card she can play in her Brexit talks – Tom Harris for the Daily Telegraph (£) Full trade deal unlikely before UK leaves EU says Carwyn Jones – BBC How May can break free from Brexit muddle with a transitional deal – Philip Collins for The Times (£) Tories demand ‘clean break’ from EU as they sign ‘hard Brexit’ letter to Theresa May insisting she shun single market – The Sun Scottish and Welsh governments allowed to intervene in Brexit process, rules Supreme Court The governments have won the right to have a say over how the Brexit process should be formally triggered. The Supreme Court ruling is the latest blow for the government’s plans to trigger Article 50 after the High Court recently ruled that Theresa May must seek MPs’ approval to start the process of exiting the European Union. The UK government is appealing the decision. – Metro Gina Miller will give up her Brexit battle if Britain’s government wins the Article 50 court case appeal – Business Insider Supreme Court’s most senior judge faces calls to stand down after his wife posted a series of anti-Brexit tweets Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, 68, has been accused of being “compromised” by his wife’s views by pro-Brexit Conservative MPs. After the controversial result in June, [Lady Neuberger] called the referendum as “mad and bad” and dismissed UKIP and Brexit as “just a protest vote” on Twitter. The Supreme Court’s code of conduct warns justices to be aware “that political activity” of a close relative could raise concerns over impartiality….But a Supreme Court Spokesman said: “Justices’ spouses are fully entitled to express personal opinions, including on issues of the day. Lady Neuberger’s passing comments on Twitter have absolutely no bearing on Lord Neuberger’s ability to determine the legal questions in this case impartially, according to the law of the land. – The Sun Theresa May changes legal case for right to start Brexit without parliamentary vote – The Independent Drop Brexit case appeal, senior Tories urge May – BBC Truss may have broken law in failing to defend Brexit judges Ms Truss’s near-silence is a breach of her statutory duty as lord chancellor and, if she were taken to court, she would probably be found to have acted unlawfully, Lord Judge said. “She is in relative terms a very inexperienced politician with no legal experience, who has been silent — and answered to Downing Street when she should have been independent,” he told The Times. “It is very serious. At the heart of it is a constitutional obligation on the lord chancellor to speak and on this issue there has been silence.” – The Times (£) Full interview with Lord Judge – The Times (£) There’s a furious reaction to Article 50 author Lord Kerr’s views of “bloody stupid” Brits Veteran Tory MP Peter Lilley was so outraged by Lord Kerr’s comments that he stormed out of a bash for top civil servants and threatened to report him for being “racially abusive of the British people”. Mr Lilley also said the comments revealed “the contempt that some Eurocrats like Lord Kerr have for ordinary British people”. He said he had considered reporting the cross-bench peer for racial hate, but decided not to do so…Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman also hit out at Lord Kerr, describing his “utterly contemptuous views” as a “hate crime”. – Daily Star Nigel Farage rules out peerage ‘at the moment’ The UKIP leader has been mentioned as a possible “go-between” between the UK and US President-elect Donald Trump because of their friendship. And speculation grew he could secure the role and a place in the House of Lords when Prime Minister Theresa May refused to deny talks had taken place…. When asked if he would accept a peerage, the MEP said: “A) it’s not going to happen and B) it’s not what I want in my life at this moment in time. When I’m old, you know, I might think about it.” – BBC Labour splits over attitudes to Brexit resurface Keir Starmer, was left infuriated by shadow chancellor John McDonnell’s statement earlier this week that the party should “embrace the enormous opportunities” that leaving the EU presents. McDonnell’s comments went beyond what had been agreed by the party’s Brexit subcommittee, Labour sources said, and were seen by Starmer’s team to have undermined their position. – Politico What Labour’s row over Brexit is really about – Stephen Bush for the New Statesman Tesco boss is warning brands against post-Brexit price increases “I spent 28 years working in a multinational and there are always elements of currency volatility in businesses like that,” Lewis told reporters on Thursday at briefing at Tesco’s headquarters….”The only thing we would ask is that companies in that position don’t ask UK customers to pay inflated prices in order that their reporting currency is maintained. They don’t do that to countries outside of the UK.” – Business Insider John Mills: Why the plummeting pound is actually good news for post-Brexit Britain It is impossible to argue that deindustrialisation is unconnected to the fact that it now costs far less to produce more or less anything in the Far East than it does in the UK. Despite assumptions, this has almost nothing to do with Chinese wages being lower than those in the UK, and everything to do with the fact that our UK exchange rate (pushed up by monetarism in the 1980s and then still further by massive UK assets sale since the 2000s) made the UK, along with nearly all the Western world, hopelessly uncompetitive with the East. – John Mills for The Independent Fraser Nelson: This is the era of Donald Trump – and of Theresa May [May would] hate comparisons with Donald Trump, but they do have a lot in common….But they’re both sixty (or seventy)-something political punks, acting in defiance of the fashionable norms of our time. Both have values which resonate more in the provinces than they do in the city. They are wary of globalisation in general, and its high priests in particular. They want to cut immigration, and don’t seem to mind if their plans for doing so are impractical. While Blair, Clinton, Clinton and Cameron both craved media approval, Trump and May couldn’t really care less. They have become very popular, without using the usual channels. (Theresa May’s popularity, especially in the north of England and the Midlands, is one of the under-reported aspects of her premiership). – Fraser Nelson for the Spectator’s Coffee House blog Anna Soubry MP: ‘What’s happened to our country? We’ve lost the plot’ After this week’s diplomatic spat over prosecco, would she say Johnson is helping Britain’s cause in Europe? Soubry glowers. “I think Boris should understand the consequences of us leaving the single market and the customs union.” Only this week, Soubry met the directors of a pharmaceutical company (she won’t say which one) who told her that they will take 1,000 jobs and relocate to Europe if we leave the single market. “Boris needs to talk to British businesses, as I do. Boris and the rest of his people need to get real.” – Anna Soubry interviewed by The Guardian John Redwood MP on Obama’s farewell tour For me the worst moment of his Presidency was when he dared to come to the UK to back the Remain campaign. It was a catastrophic error for the Leader of the Free world to involve himself in a referendum in a friendly country on the wrong side, arguing with those who wanted to argue the British/EU colonial government case rather than the case of the Independence seeking Americans/UK citizens….It is perhaps a fitting end to his tenure that he spends time in Europe with a series of continental politicians that have themselves lost touch with their voters – John Redwood MP on his eponymous blog. Brexit comment in brief Philip Hammond must learn from George Osborne’s mistakes in order to safeguard Brexit Britain – Chris Leslie MP for the Daily Telegraph Why Tory Leavers don’t fear the Remain rebels – George Eaton for the New Statesman’s Staggers blog Britain’s creative industries have nothing to fear from Brexit – Michael Grade for the Daily Telegraph (£) The Sword of Damocles is not hanging over Britain’s fintech sector post-Brexit – Lawrence Wintermeyer for City A.M. Five stages of Brexit grief – Politico’s Brexit File After Brexit: A great time to be young – Izzy Lyons for Spiked Trump’s effect on the EU – Pieter Cleppe for Open Europe Brexit news in brief Peter Bone MP reveals trolls made a picture of ISIS executing his son – The Mirror The IMF on Brexit – Full Fact Americans flock to cheaper UK – The Times (£) Chinese are now our friends in the north after pouring money into industrial cities – The Times (£) Chinese banks pile in to new London banking area for Asian business – The Drum Germany expected to deny asylum to thousands – Politico Bridget Christie writing a Brexit sitcom for Channel 4 – Chortle Could lack of wind have caused Brexit? New study shows blustery weather encourages the status quo – The Sun