Landmark Brexit challenge dismissed by High Court in Northern Ireland A High Court judge in Belfast has dismissed landmark legal bids to halt the United Kingdom’s planned departure from the European Union. The father of a loyalist paramilitary murder victim and a cross-party group of MLAs mounted separate cases aimed at having the Brexit process declared unlawful. But Mr Justice Maguire rejected claims by lawyers for Raymond McCord and the Stormont politicians that the British Government cannot use royal prerogative powers to begin EU withdrawal without an Act of Parliament. – Belfast Telegraph Defeated Brexit court case campaigner vows to fight on – Belfast News Letter Tony Blair says voters must have a chance to change their minds on Brexit… “There is absolutely no reason why we should close off any options. You can’t change this decision, unless it becomes clear in one way or another, that the British people have had a change of mind because they have seen the reality of the alternative. We are entitled to carry on scrutinising, and, yes, if necessary, to change our minds, because it seems sensible to us to do so. This is not about an elite over-ruling the people.” – Tony Blair quoted in the Daily Mail No 10 shoots down Tony Blair’s call for Brexit referendum rethink ‘option’ – PoliticsHome Blair tells Corbyn: Don’t use Brexit to take Britain back to the 1960s – Labour List …which has gone down pretty badly with much of the commentariat Why is Blairism no longer so popular among the voters? Because of the man himself. The Brexit vote was primarily against the EU but, in some part, it was also against him. He injected spin into British politics, using it to build support for a war in Iraq that many now believe was a terrible mistake. Mr Blair also signed off on granting free movement to eastern Europe – unilaterally and while predicting that only a few thousand would come. – Daily Telegraph editorial Tony Blair is the very worst person to try and block or frustrate Brexit. Tony Blair is not incidental to Brexit. Tony Blair is one of the major causes of Brexit. – Iain Martin for Reaction Tony Blair is my hero, but even he has no right to overturn our democratic vote for Brexit – Tom Harris for the Daily Telegraph Blair and New Labour signed up to the Article 50 process he rails against – Henry Hill for ConservativeHome Ford becomes latest car manufacturer to pledge future to Britain in major vote of confidence following Brexit vote Just a day after Nissan said it would build two new models at its Sunderland plant, Ford said there were no plans to close any of its UK operations. Jim Farley, Ford’s European boss, said the American company had operated in Britain for more than a century and had 14,000 UK staff – ‘many’ more than Nissan… ‘We just announced a £100m investment in Bridgend to install our new Dragon engine and we have no plans to change our investments or make any new changes,’ said Farley. – Daily Mail Ford says Brexit help should apply across industry – Automotive News Europe Online stores win foreign customers as sterling drops Overseas shoppers are flocking to British websites in search of bargains because of the plunge in the value of the pound… Customers outside the EU were leading the charge. Craig Wheeler, operations director at Feelunique, a cosmetics retailer, said that international sales had grown from 25 per cent to 40 per cent, with the rate of growth trebling after the referendum. “If you’re buying high-end premium brands from a legitimate source, Britain is probably the cheapest place in the world now,” he said. The tourism industry has also reported a Brexit boom, with the weak pound helping the industry. – The Times (£) May called for MPs to have veto on talks with Brussels (nine years ago) Theresa May’s insistence that parliament should be kept in the dark about her Brexit strategy was undermined yesterday after it emerged that she had written a paper demanding MPs get the right to veto European negotiations. In a think tank pamphlet published in 2007, Mrs May argued it should be “impossible to override” parliament… Downing Street sources said: “The proposals related to the way ministers negotiated specific aspects of policy while we were members of the European Union. They were about providing a check against giving away more sovereignty. We are now talking about negotiating an entirely new relationship with the EU, based on the mandate given to us in the referendum.” – The Times (£) Lord Owen: ‘Half-baked’ eurozone to end up as just four ‘core’ countries & Italy must quit The independent peer, a leading Brexit supporter, described how Britain’s pending departure from the EU had finally made Brussels bosses “more likely” to consider “long overdue reform”… In a keynote speech in Zurich, Switzerland, this afternoon, the veteran eurosceptic claimed much-needed changes to the debt-laden eurozone could be enacted soon after Britain’s exit. Lord Owen said the creation of a “core eurozone” will need to be “openly discussed” in order to avert the entire collapse of the Brussels single currency project. He suggested Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria could form a quartet of countries to integrate their economies further by signing up to an initial fiscal and banking union. But the former SDP leader expressed doubt about France’s involvement. – Daily Express Arlene Foster MLA: The UK joined Europe as one nation, and that’s how we’ll leave There is no evidence to support the case that either Scotland or Northern Ireland should stay in the EU “for the sake of” trade with the rest of the EU. The reality is that trade with the EU won’t stop when we’re out of it, any more than it does for those who have never been in it. Just like the US, China, and Australia, the Brexited UK will quite capably conduct trade with the EU… [W]hatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations we must not allow it to divert and distract from the normal business of government, nor should it be used as a basis to reopen settled political agreements. – Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster MLA in The Guardian Simon Jenkins: Nissan got a sweetheart deal. Under hard Brexit, everyone will want one The British government complains when international companies are offered sweetheart deals from Ireland, Luxembourg or Monaco. When investment becomes a free-for-all, there is a rush to the bottom. Countries compete with each other, either to subsidise business or – the same thing – to excuse them taxes or compensate them for tariffs. The prospect under a “hard” Brexit, and a reversion to World Trade Organisation tariffs, would result in myriad such deals, day in, day out. And when clout is the issue, one thing is for sure: the smaller the business the less clout. – Simon Jenkins in The Guardian Andrew Duff: Could the UK choose a ‘Ukrainian model’ after Brexit? It is clear that the British need help in devising a fresh prospectus for their future relations with Europe. The EU’s embargo on serious talks until Article 50 has been formally invoked is not helpful. The focus of the debate has got stuck on what is impossible — in other words, the alternative models of Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, Canada or WTO. We need to move on to what is possible. Here, one useful option is still overlooked, that of a new association agreement. In 2014 the EU signed an association agreement with Ukraine. At its heart is a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement based on tariff-free access for goods to the single market once Ukraine approximates its own standards to that of the EU acquis. Subject to negotiation, Ukraine’s participation is foreseen across a range of EU common policies. – Former Lib Dem MEP Andrew Duff for EurActiv Allister Heath: If economists want to be useful again they need to redeem themselves Economists who make all the wrong calls keep their jobs and big paychecks, as long as their faulty views echo the mainstream, received wisdom of the moment… The forecasts were not just completely wrong – my guess is that they were actually downright harmful, shaving growth in areas where elites that are most likely to be swayed by economists take decisions. – Allister Heath in the Daily Telegraph Charles Moore: Brexit has reversed the long decline of post-imperial Britain. Even Tony Blair can’t spoil that The idea began to grow… that our country could do better the more independent it became. In Britain, this was not a new thought, but an old one which had gone to sleep. It is not an isolationist idea: free trade has been our dominant view since the repeal of the Corn Laws. It is a democratic one. As our system of government developed over centuries, we did not ask ourselves “What should our role in the world be?” We asked a much more primary question – “Who should rule us, and by what right?” The almost boringly obvious answer is “Ourselves, by the consent of our people.” – Charles Moore in the Daily Telegraph Brexit comment in brief How will we enforce post-Brexit trade deals? – Angus Armstrong and Catherine Barnard for Prospect Magazine Daniel Hannan MEP: The man who brought you Brexit – Guardian podcast Four principles for the UK’s Brexit trade negotiations – Thomas Sampson for the LSE How a devolved immigration policy could work in Brexit Britain – Tom Kibasi for the New Statesman The UK economy is soaring in the run-up to Brexit – Ross Clark for the Daily Express Britain has a beautiful, bouncing Brexit – but will it stay that way? – Robert Colvile for CapX Brexit news in brief House prices: Buyer demand back at pre-Brexit level – The Week UK economy stronger than feared – but we’re not out of the woods yet, says S&P – Daily Telegraph Tim Farron announces Lib Dem shadow reshuffle to ‘stand up to Tory Brexit government’ – PoliticsHome Delayed EU-Canada trade deal to be signed on Sunday – Sky News Morrisons becomes first supermarket to put up price of Marmite just weeks after Tesco refuses Unilever post-Brexit pressure – Daily Mirror Apple ‘uses Brexit as an excuse’ to raise its prices by £500 – Daily Mail French plan to steal business from Brexit Britain undermined by World Bank rating – The Independent European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society criticised for remarks about Chinese diplomats at public event – Politico Digby Jones on Brexit opponents and the UK economy – BBC This Week And finally… Lindsay Lohan urged to keep Brexit Christmas lights promise The star of Mean Girls surprised fans and political observers alike by live-tweeting as the June 23 EU referendum results came in. But she offended the people of Kettering — a town of around 80,000 people situated 80 miles north of London — by tweeting “Sorry Kettering but where are you?” The local MP — Tory Philip Hollobone — was outraged, saying, “Everyone knows where Kettering is, it’s famous as the home of Weetabix” and inviting Lohan to switch on the Christmas lights to “redeem her political reputation.” She accepted. But now the star has gone silent and isn’t responding to requests from the town’s Christmas lights organizers, with the event on November 24 getting ever closer. – Politico