Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Theresa May demands respect from the EU… Theresa May has demanded the EU show the UK respect as she refused to back down on Brexit after the bloc rejected her Chequers plan. In a defiant speech to cameras at 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister said the EU needed to understand that she would not “overturn the result” of the EU referendum and would never sign off on a plan to “break up my country”. Mrs May also sought to take the moral high ground in negotiations as for the first time she made an unconditional offer to the three million EU citizens living in the UK to stay in Britain even in the event of a no deal divorce. Mrs May’s comments came after she was humiliated at a summit of EU leaders in Salzburg on Thursday as they shot down her Brexit blueprint. – Telegraph (£) Defiant May raises stakes with no-deal threat to EU – The Times (£) Pound falls after May’s Brexit statement – BBC News Theresa May is embarrassing’ – Telegraph readers react – Telegraph (£) EU told to ‘engage on substance’ after Chequers criticism – Sky News Europe gives May the cold shoulder – Telegraph (£) Macron’s office says ‘no comment’ when asked about May’s Brexit speech – Reuters The way EU leaders ‘belittled’ Theresa May over Chequers is driving even Remainers to accept a ‘no deal’ Brexit, claims pro-EU former minister – The Sun EU leaders’ intransigence is a gift to Theresa May – Mark Fox for Reaction Theresa May is playing a dangerous game burning the Brexit boats and gambling with the EU (for now) on No Deal – James Forsyth for The Sun Theresa May’s stunning belter of a Brexit speech hit back at bullying EU egomaniacs – The Sun editorial Theresa May’s Brexit statement in full – BrexitCentral …and says she won’t break up her country over Brexit… Prime Minister Theresa May said on Friday Brexit negotiations were at an “impasse” and vowed not to accept a deal that would “break up my country.” In a defiant statement following an informal European Union summit in Salzburg where her Brexit plan was rejected by EU leaders, she called for “serious engagement” with the U.K.’s proposals. She doubled down on her “Chequers” proposal as the only potential deal that would make good on the referendum result and preserve the integrity of the United Kingdom. – Politico …but refuses to abandon her Chequers plan… A stern tone, strong words. But while there is no remote sign from the PM today that she is about to compromise, forces in the EU and in her own party are intent on forcing her to do so. Her problem is that they want to push her in different directions. Rhetoric doesn’t change the fact that few of the players involved outside Number 10 believe that the suggestions the prime minister has put forward can be the ones that ultimately will win the day. – Laura Kuenssberg for BBC News Only one in ten party members says that May should stick with Chequers. – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome …despite reports Ministers will demand an alternative at Cabinet showdown on Monday Theresa May is heading for a showdown with her Cabinet next week when ministers will call for a “Plan B” alternative to her Chequers Brexit deal. The Cabinet meeting on Monday, which was due to discuss migration policy, will now be dominated by Mrs May’s Salzburg humiliation. The Prime Minister will be urged to offer an alternative to the proposal, agreed at her country residence in July, to keep the UK tied to the EU after Brexit – or face resignations. One source said: “Monday is the crunch point. That’s when every Cabinet minister will have to look again and reassess like Boris [Johnson] and David Davis did.” – Telegraph (£) Theresa May plans to end pro-European migrant policy after Brexit in crunch Cabinet immigration talks – The Sun It’s time Theresa May looked for a Plan B – Telegraph editorial (£) Jacob Rees-Mogg praises May’s no-deal warning… ERG Chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg has issued a response to the Prime Minister’s statement in Downing Street. He said: “Salzburg was a failure even though European leaders had been briefed about Chequers before it was agreed by the Cabinet. It indicates that the EU is not acting in good faith. This makes the Prime Minister’s task harder and she is right to remind them that no deal is better than a bad deal.” – Guido Fawkes …and the DUP leader Arlene Foster praises her tough stance… The DUP’s Arlene Foster today heaped praise on Theresa May’s tough Brexit stance against the EU. Speaking after the Prime Minister savaged the bloc for slapping down her Chequers deal, and demanded they treat her with more respect, the Northern Ireland boss hailed her for standing firm. Mrs May, who depends on the votes of the 10 DUP politicians to have a majority in Parliament, today stuck to her guns and refused to save in to the EU’s demands. And she repeatedly said she would do nothing which would break up the UK – like the bloc has proposed with a border in the Irish Sea. – The Sun DUP says it would veto any new UK-Northern Ireland barrier – Reuters … after a ‘bitter row’ with the DUP which ‘left Theresa May unable to compromise’ A bitter row with the DUP left Theresa May unable to deliver any progress to EU leaders on Brexit talks – prompting them to reject her Chequers plan. Ministers are in secret negotiations with the Ulster unionist party over a new bid by the PM to break the negotiations deadlock, The Sun has learned. Mrs May wants to establish a different system of rules for goods in Northern Ireland than Great Britain as the missing part of a backstop plan to ensure the Irish border remains open. But DUP leaders are refusing to agree the move, which they argue would split up the United Kingdom. – The Sun Donald Tusk: May knew EU objections to UK Brexit plan – Politico Juncker compares EU and UK to two loving hedgehogs European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker called on Britain and the EU “to be careful like two loving hedgehogs” when it comes to Brexit talks, warning against injuries on both sides. “When two hedgehogs hug, you have to be careful that there are no scratches,” Juncker told Austrian paper Die Presse following an informal leaders’ summit in Salzburg on Thursday at which EU leaders – Politico Electoral Commission seeks to appeal against court ruling The Electoral Commission is seeking leave to appeal against a High Court ruling on spending by Vote Leave in the run-up to the EU referendum. The election watchdog was judged earlier this month to have “misinterpreted” the legal definition of referendum expenses. The judicial review was brought by campaign group The Good Law Project. The group said the Electoral Commission had failed in its duty to regulate the referendum process. An Electoral Commission spokesman said: “Today we are applying to the High Court for permission to appeal a judgement made last week which ruled on the interpretation of a point of law on campaign donations and expenditure. “We are considering the implications of this judgement, including how it could impact on candidates, parties and non-party campaigners across all types of elections or referendums. – BBC News European Court to rule whether MPs can unilaterally cancel Brexit Europe’s highest court is to rule whether MPs can unilaterally cancel Brexit after a group of Remain-supporting politicians won a “bombshell” legal battle. The Court of Session in Edinburgh announced it would refer to the European Court of Justice the question of whether UK can revoke its decision to trigger the Article 50 withdrawal process without the permission of the other 27 EU members. The panel of appeal judges said the “urgency of the issue”, with the UK due to leave the EU on March 29 next year, meant its request was being done under expedited procedure. – Telegraph (£) Court to rule on whether UK can halt Brexit – BBC News Brexit compromise still possible, says Donald Tusk European Council President Donald Tusk has said a compromise with the UK over Brexit is “still possible”, after Theresa May warned she was prepared to walk away from talks. In a statement, Mr Tusk said he was a “true admirer” of the PM. But he defended the EU’s approach and said it was in fact Mrs May who had been “tough” and “uncompromising”. Mrs May on Friday demanded more respect from Brussels after EU leaders rejected a major part of her Brexit plan. She had tried to sell her blueprint, which was agreed by ministers at Chequers, to EU countries at a summit in Salzburg, Austria, this week. But the EU said the new economic partnership she had put forward “will not work” and risked “undermining the single market”. – BBC News Brexit deal ‘still possible’ despite Chequers rejection – Sky News James Forsyth: Will Theresa May’s big Brexit gamble pay off? Theresa May has attempted to put the ball back in the EU’s court this afternoon. After the rejection of her Chequers plan at the Salzburg summit, May has told British voters and the EU that she regards no deal as preferable to either the UK being in the EEA and the Customs Union or a customs border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. She said that if the EU wants to reject Chequers, it is incumbent on them to come back with an alternative proposal. The question is whether the EU takes this no deal threat seriously. – James Forsyth for The Spectator John Redwood: The EU is no bowl of cherries Mr Tusk’s dismissive treatment of the Prime Minister was not the action of a peacemaker who wants to bring the two sides closer together. It reveals that the EU has little self knowledge, and no knowledge of how others see it. It is because the EU is no bowl of cherries that many of us wish to go. There are no cherries to pick. As to cake, we have to pay for our own and pay for other countries cake too whilst an EU member. I look forward to us paying just for our own cake, and making more of it at home. That way we can have better cake and more prosperity. – John Redwood’s Diary The EU has nothing we want that is worth £39bn – John Redwood’s Diary Tom McTague: Why a second Brexit referendum is unlikely Whatever the state of the Brexit negotiations, Britain remains a long, long way from a full-blown second EU referendum. Too far, most Westminster watchers believe, for a referendum to happen before Britain leaves the club at 11 p.m. on March 29, 2019. Why? Isn’t a head of steam building for a “people’s vote”? Didn’t the popular London mayor come out in favor? Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat claimed yesterday that EU leaders are on board too. Surely it’s only a matter of time before the desperate prospect of no deal forces a change in the political weather in Westminster? – Tom McTague for Politico Shameless ‘People’s Vote’ campaign will never accept Brexit – Gavin Rice for Reaction Daniel R. DePetris: The EU’s migration delusion Just as Theresa May’s Chequers plan for Brexit was being savaged in Salzburg, EU leaders also found time to engage in their usual response when it comes to the question of migration: a lot of talk, glad-handing, and pats on the back, but very little concrete action. The summit was a two-day affair that encapsulates all of the negative connotations of the EU as an institution: slow, cumbersome, ineffective, and increasingly detached from reality. Hours were devoted to the migration issue, that perennial crisis that has hovered over Brussels over the last five years.- Daniel R. DePetris for The Spectator Brexit in Brief EU State of the Union addresses are a sick joke – Tim Hedges for The Commentator Chequers won support for the wrong reasons – Bruce Newsome for CommentCentral After Salzburg, the EU needs a reality check on its security plans. Urgently. – Dr Andrew Murrison for ConservativeHome A border once again – Graham Gudgin for Briefings for Brexit Michael Gove’s dangerous idea – Sean Walsh for CommentCentral The Irish border was always going to be a sticking point – Matthew O’Toole for The Spectator What’s behind Donald Tusk’s Instagram diplomacy? – BBC News ‘Pretence’ of May’s Brexit plan has to stop – Nicola Sturgeon – Reuters Ban migrants from benefits, using the NHS or buying property in Britain until they’ve been here 5 years, say UKIP’s new manifesto – The Sun France sees Brexit deal possible, but must prepare for ‘no deal’ – Reuters