Government lawyers conclude the EU cannot compel the UK to pay an astronomical exit fee Britain can leave the European Union without paying a multibillion-pound “divorce settlement”, government lawyers have concluded. The legal advice states that there is no law or treaty that can compel Britain to make payments to the EU after Brexit, The Times understands. It represents a significant boost to Theresa May’s negotiating hand as she prepares to trigger Article 50 within the next two weeks, starting exit talks. European negotiators are expected to demand up to €60 billion (£50 billion) of financial liabilities that the EU believes it is owed. The bulk of the money consists of funds for projects that Britain signed off as a member but which have yet to be paid for. – The Times (£) House of Lords committee: ” UK not legally obliged to contribute to the EU budget” The House of Lords EU Financial Affairs Sub-Committee said in a report published today that “under international law the UK will not be legally obliged to contribute to the EU budget if an agreement is not reached at the end of Article 50 negotiations”.The report was published based on legal advice from senior lawyers including Paul Hardy, the Counsel for European Legislation in the Commons who spent four years as a legal and policy adviser to the European Commission. – Daily Telegraph UK ‘not obliged’ to pay divorce bill say peers – BBC Peers say Theresa May is heading for another Brexit defeat Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats believe they comfortably have the numbers to win a crunch vote next Tuesday to ensure Parliament has a “meaningful vote” on the Prime Minister’s exit terms. Crucially, a new amendment to the Article 50 bill would bind Ms May to obtain Parliament’s approval to leave the EU “without an agreement as to the applicable terms”.It would prevent her unilaterally carrying out her threat to walk away if EU leaders offer only a ‘bad deal” – leaving Britain out of the EU on punishing World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. – The Independent David Davis: future free trade ‘massively important’ for both sides The Brexit secretary has said a future free trade agreement his country seeks with the European Union is crucial for both Britain sides. Speaking after meeting Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Friday, Secretary David Davis says “this is massively important to both sides.” Davis says Britain exports goods worth 230 billion euros to the EU while EU nations export goods for 290 billion euros to U.K. He says a recent investment of Jaguar Land Rover in Slovakia is “a component of that co-process … we want to preserve, enlarge and encourage.” – Daily Mail Theresa May lays down independence vote challenge to Nicola Sturgeon Theresa May has signalled a tougher line on Scottish demands for greater devolution after Brexit, laying down a clear challenge to Nicola Sturgeon to call another independence referendum. The prime minister told the Scottish Conservative party she would fight against any further decentralisation of power which meant the UK became “a looser and weaker union”. “We cannot allow our United Kingdom to drift apart,” she said. In a marked escalation of her attacks on the first minister’s demand for greater autonomy for the Scottish parliament after Brexit, May said there would be a strict limit to any extra powers and spending. – The Guardian Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to visit Poland and Germany in Brexit charm offensive The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are to embark on the second leg of their European charm offensive this summer with an official visit to Poland and Germany.Kensington Palace announced today that they will undertake a short tour there in July at the request of the Foreign Office. Coming after the couple’s two-day trip to Paris later this month, the visit will be seen as part of the government’s attempts to use the royal family for its “soft diplomacy” efforts to secure a good Brexit deal. Details of the trip, which is expected to last between five days and a week, are yet to be announced. – The Times (£) Tony Blair calls for ‘new coalition’ in desperate last-ditch bid to block Brexit Writing in the New York Times Blair condemned Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party as an “extreme” example of left-wing populism, and said centrist politicians who feel “dispossessed within existing party structures should make common cause” and come together. In his latest attempt to thwart the will of the people and block Brexit, the former Prime Minister wants Britons to consider “staying in a reformed European Union”, just weeks before Theresa May is due to trigger Article 50 and start negotiating Britain’s EU exit. – Daily Express Against Populism, the Center Must Hold – Tony Blair for the New York Times Scientists urge May to scrap all EU influence on regulations after Brexit A pro-Brexit campaign group has urged Theresa May to scrap all EU influence on regulations, as it said UK industry was still struggling to recover from Brussels red-tape. David Banks, of Scientists for Britain, said the regulatory risk of being inside the bloc can be removed once Britain sheds its European Union shackles. Speaking to the BBC, he said: “The regulatory risk that exists from being in the EU can be eliminated and that is one of the things we’ll be campaigning on during the negotiations to make sure that regulatory risk that comes down the pipe from the EU Commission and the European Parliament is stopped.” – Daily Express European Commission to fund pro-EU ‘information’ centres in Britain Despite the UK’s imminent departure from the EU, BrexitCentral can reveal that the European Commission is planning to fund a raft of new ‘information’ centres in the UK. A number of organisations have been invited by the Commission to join a scheme that would see them acting “as an information point for local citizens in response to the heightened public interest in EU matters in the post-referendum context”. The offer to join the scheme, which would involve distributing taxpayer-funded EU propaganda, was made in an email, seen by BrexitCentral. – BrexitCentral Brexit vote reaction proves ‘stable’ UK at odds with volatile EU Brexit has proved Britain’s “stable and moderate” political culture is completely at odds with the volatile EU, according to a leading constitutional expert. Professor Vernon Bogdanor, an academic at King’s College London, highlighted the possibility of “huge political upheaval” on the Continent in comparison to the UK’s absorption of the shock Leave result. Despite describing Brexit as a “uniquely divisive issue” in UK politics, Professor Bogdanor suggested Britain could appear becalmed next to looming turmoil across the rest of the EU. – Daily Express Brexit pay boost: Low-paid staff to get wage hike as EU workers shun UK over falling pound Millions of low-paid British workers are set for a pay rise thanks to Brexit as the falling pound makes it less affordable for EU workers to send their salaries back home, a report concludes today. Hard-pressed families working in the hospitality industry can expect to see their pay packets rise and new job opportunities open up with the decision to leave the EU set to put an end to the era of cheap foreign labour. The effects of Brexit will be particularly felt in the restaurant industry where people born overseas – many of them from the EU – make up almost a third of the workforce. – Daily Express Ashley Fox MEP: Why the EU will find it difficult to choose the right way forward Some things never change in Brussels. On Wednesday Guy Verhofstadt once again referenced Winston Churchill as a founding father of European integration. But then came a surprise. Jean Claude Juncker finally acknowledged there is more than one way for the European Union to develop. The occasion was a set piece debate on the future of the EU, an issue that has occupied the Brussels bubble in recent months but has so far barely caused a ripple beyond it. At least this time we had something to get our teeth into, the European Commission’s Future of Europe White Paper, or the birth certificate of the EU27 as some are labelling it. – Ashley Fox MEP for ConservativeHome Richard Littlejohn: Why doesn’t the House of Lords move to Brussels? Not for the first time, it fell to Norman Tebbit to speak for Britain. Why was it, he asked his fellow members of the Lords, that they were elevating the rights of foreigners over those of the British people? ‘It seems to me the first duty of this Parliament, of the United Kingdom, is to care for the interests of the citizens of this kingdom,’ he said. ‘If we are to be concerned about the rights of anybody after Brexit to live anywhere on this continent of Europe, it should be concern for the rights of British people to live freely and peacefully in those other parts of Europe. Why is everybody here today so excited about an amendment which looks after foreigners and not the British?’ – Richard LittleJohn for the Daily Mail Kwasi Kwarteng MP: Farage, Blair, Cameron – Brexit has consigned them all to the history books Like Major, Blair, Mandelson and many of their colleagues who now grace the House of Lords, Farage is now a historical figure. His big achievements relate to the period before the referendum – to the gadfly, almost protean, nature of the insurgent political party he led. UKIP grew almost exponentially between the 2005 general election, in which it secured just over 2 per cent of the total vote, and 2015, when it secured 12.6 per cent. If the political party were a start-up company, Farage would have become a very wealthy man. Yet much in the same way as the Dreadnought rendered all other battleships in the Royal Navy obsolete, when it was introduced in 1906, Brexit has made much of our recent politics irrelevant. Kwasi Kwarteng MP for CapX Isabel Hardman: Why the Commons headache over Brexit is only just beginning Theresa May might have won every Brexit vote in the House of Commons so far, but it’s getting trickier now. The House of Lords this week rejected the plan to trigger Article 50 without offering assurances to EU nationals, knowing that most MPs are sympathetic. I understand that the Tory whips are working hard to whittle down threatened rebellion at the ‘ping-pong’ stage. Given that everyone in Vote Leave pledged to protect EU nationals – as did four out of the five original Tory leadership contenders – it’s harder work. Quite a few rebels feel they need to make a point about the status of EU citizens. – Isabel Hardman for The Spectator Sarah Knapton: Brexit Britain is forging ahead with scientific research and discovery The news that Cambridge University is on the brink of growing human embryos in the lab may provoke fascination or even horror, but it undoubtedly shows that Britain is leading the way in cutting-edge, world-beating science. Last year was a tumultuous one for the scientific community as public opinion swung against “experts”, and Brexit ignited fears that there would be a collapse in cooperation between research institutes, causing funding streams to dry up. But so far those concerns have proved unfounded. In fact, Britain is forging ahead in research and is in a far better position than it was 12 months ago. – Sarah Knapton for The Daily Telegraph Brexit comment in brief On Brexit, we’re closer to London than Berlin or Paris – David McWilliams for the Irish Independent Cut the Brexit gloom-mongering – John Redwood for Comment Central The fishing opportunity for Brexit Britain – Joseph Hackett for The Commentator The nuclear fallout from Brexit – Andrew Ward and Alex Barker for The FT From now on, I’ll greet Brexiteers with a grin – Matthew Parris for The Spectator Reasons to be cheerful about Brexit – Dan Stork Banks for the Church Times Brexit news in brief Brexit will go ahead. But what happens when the young want to take their country back? – Michael Deacon for the Daily Telegraph Gerry Adams calls for Northern Ireland to receive special status in EU after election result – Irish Times Brexit means London is much cheaper for companies relocating expat employees – ExpatForum Malta could be one of Brexit’s biggest losers, KPMG report finds – The Times of Malta Oxford University saw 10% rise in applications from EU students since leave vote – Cherwell And finally… Asda shelf-stacker says Brexit made him join ISIS-linked militants An Asda worker has been jailed for eight years after claiming he was joining radicals linked to Islamic State in order to escape the effects of Brexit. White convert Ryan Ashley Counsell, 28, from Nottingham, claimed his interest in living “off the grid” in the Philippines had been prompted by watching the series Lives In The Wild by the TV presenter Ben Fogle. In fact he was in the advanced stages of a plan to abandon his pregnant wife and three-year-old daughter in order to join Abu Sayyaf – which has sworn allegiance to IS. – Sky News