New court case threatens to derail Brexit Theresa May faces a new Brexit crisis this weekend as opponents launch a fresh legal action to upend her plans for leaving the European Union. Campaigners will write to the government tomorrow saying they are taking it to the High Court in an effort to keep Britain in the single market. The claimants — one a “remain” voter, the other who backed Brexit — will seek a judicial review in an attempt to give MPs a new power of veto over the terms on which Britain leaves the EU. They are following the same legal path that has already seen ministers dragged to the Supreme Court. If they are successful, parliament would be able to stop the prime minister from making a clean break with Brussels, delay her pledge to kick-start negotiations in March or even derail Brexit completely. – Sunday Times (£) Toying with the will of the people – Daily Express We at British Influence are not wreckers. Rather, we seek a Brexit middle way between two extremes. – Peter Wilding writing for ConservativeHome Supreme Court Brexit appeal: Judges ‘heading for split 7-4 decision’ in narrow win for Remain campaigners Government advisers believe there will be a split decision over the Supreme Court’s Article 50 ruling, with judges voting 7 to 4 in favour of giving a Parliament a veto on when Britain leaves the European Union, The Telegraph can disclose. The news is a boost for the Brexit side, as some had feared before the case this week that the Government could lose the appeal by a majority of 10 to one. A narrow win will make it harder for pro-European Union MPs and peers to frustrate the progress of a new law to trigger the start of Britain’s talks to leave the EU by the end of March. – Daily Telegraph Blame the politicians, not the judges, for this legal mess of a referendum – Janet Daley for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Brexit’s first casualty could be the Act of Union – Iain Macwhirter for the Sunday Herald Tory advisers reportedly have ’plan to hold snap election’ if judges rule that Parliament must trigger Article 50 – Daily Mail Gina Miller accuses Government of playing ‘X Factor’ politics with Supreme Court case Ms Miller, the philanthropist who brought the case, said a news report about how the Government was predicting a less-impressive-than-expected win for her side showed ministers were treating the crucial decision with as much seriousness as if it were being taken by judges on the Saturday night TV show. Speaking exclusively to The Independent, she said the news report showed Brexiteers had accepted they would lose and were now trying to put a favourable “spin” on defeat. – The Independent Brexit challenger Gina Miller says Commons vote is ‘irrelevant’ – ITV Nicky Morgan no longer welcome at Number 10 Brexit meeting Explosive text messages have revealed how Theresa May banned a ‘soft Brexit’ former Cabinet Minister from Downing Street for criticising her £995 leather trousers. Ex-Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has been told not to attend a scheduled Brexit meeting with the Prime Minister on Wednesday after an extraordinary text spat with Mrs May’s joint chief of staff Fiona Hill. Hill ripped up Morgan’s No 10 invitation after the MP publicly criticised the PM’s trousers.The ‘Trousergate’ clash came after Hill met Morgan and Tory pro-European cheerleader Alistair Burt at No 10 and invited them to put their case to the PM this week. But after subsequently reading Morgan’s jibe about May’s trousers, a furious Hill texted Burt: ‘Don’t bring that woman to Downing Street again.’ – Daily Mail Perhaps no post-Brexit EU citizenship for Brits after all The EU is not considering plans to grant “associate citizenship” to British nationals after the U.K. leaves the bloc, several British media reports notwithstanding. The suggestion was made in an 66-word amendment floated in the European Parliament to a non-binding resolution on the future of the European Union, voted on Thursday, which has no legal and little political impact on the Brexit negotiations set to start next year. What’s more, the Lisbon Treaty of the EU doesn’t allow for any kind of citizenship — associated or otherwise — for citizens of countries who don’t belong to the EU. – Harry Cooper for Politico Leavers should welcome Brussels’s offer of opt-in EU citizenship for Brits – Mark Wallace for ConservativeHome Ed Miliband joins call for ‘soft Brexit’ as conflict in Labour grows Spelling out his own Brexit strategy, and insisting that tough choices must now be made, Miliband argued that safeguarding the strength of the economy should be the number one priority in negotiations over leaving the EU, rather than a focus on the “undeliverable promise” of cutting immigration to tens of thousands a year. – The Observer Brexit has caused such a boom in tourism that there will be no room at the inn this Christmas The weak pound has attracted an unprecedented number of visitors to the UK, as well as encouraging more Britons to take “staycations” instead of spending Christmas abroad. The latest research by Visit Britain, the UK’s official tourist organisation, suggests that incoming flights are up 10 per cent compared with last Christmas, with accommodation bookings up by nearly 20 per cent year-on-year. The most recent data from analysts Forward Keys suggests the Chinese and Americans are most keen to visit Britain, with flights from the Far East up 38 per cent since this time last year. – Sunday Express Britain’s luxury goods retailers are booming on the back of the weaker pound – Mail on Sunday Christmas shoppers have saved the British economy – but how long will it last? – Hamish McRae for The Independent Boris Johnson: Don’t list to the doom-mongers, ‘Global Britain’ is ready for take-off In the case of Brexit, there is a clamour from those who complain that the Government has no plan, no idea of the shape of the new relationship with the EU and no idea how Britain will get there. Well, folks, all I can say is that these people have simply failed to listen to what the Prime Minister has been saying. Theresa May could not have been clearer about the way forward. Thanks to that epic vote on June 23, the people of this country are now free to do four crucial things. – Boris Johnson for The Sun on Sunday Boris Johnson paints a bright Brexit future – Sunday Telegraph editorial Tories rally around ‘free-thinking’ Johnson after May rebuke – The Observer May told to call off dogs before Boris bites back – Sunday Times (£) Christopher Booker: The simple point of law which everyone in the Article 50 case seems to be ignoring Article 50(2) of the Lisbon Treaty obliges any government which has decided to leave the EU to notify the European Council of its intention. No one is disputing that, following the referendum, the British Government has decided to leave –and that it is therefore its legal obligation under the treaty to inform the European Council so that negotiations can begin. But we must then turn to section 2(2) of the European Communities Act, by which Parliament in 1972 voted for Britain to join what is now the EU. This quite explicitly places on the Government the duty to give “legal effect” to any “obligation” created under the treaties, “without any further enactment”. Those words could not be clearer. – Christopher Booker for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Steve Baker: Free trade is key to the UK’s prosperity after Brexit The UK can be a beacon of free trade in goods and services at the centre of a new engine of global growth that should inject 1.5 per cent a year into global world production according the Legatum Institute, which would mean a global economy 50 per cent bigger in fifteen years than it would be otherwise. That could mean no more budget deficits, billions lifted out of poverty and unemployment of less than 2 per cent in developed countries such as the UK. As the heart of this global economic engine, our economy will be catapulted upwards. Given parliament’s overwhelming vote this week to trigger Article 50 on schedule, that is the prize after which we must all now strive. – Steve Baker MP for the FT (£) William Keegan: We’ll get a Brexit that suits Europe, not one that suits us The last thing that the Europeans we are supposed to be “negotiating with” are prepared to do is let Britain off lightly: they are rightly terrified about a domino effect. It is “Brexit or nothing”. Yet in the fantasy land of current British politics, Brexiters and others are kidding themselves into believing that the others do not mean what they say. All this stuff about “soft Brexits” and “medium Brexits” is pie in the sky. – William Keegan for The Observer Simon Heffer: The Eurozone is teetering on the brink – Britain might soon be the EU’s only friend History tells us that all empires fall eventually. The upshot of this for us is considerable. We do not need to go to the Brexit negotiating table with a begging bowl. It is very much in the interests of the various countries of Europe to remain on good terms with Britain, and not just because of their huge trade surplus with us. It is because, at the rate things are going, they may soon find they need all the friends they can get. – Simon Heffer for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Niall Ferguson: Sorry, I was wrong to fight Brexit to keep my friends in No 10 and No 11 I was wrong to argue against Brexit, as I admitted in public last week. By this I do not mean to say “I wish I had backed the winning side”. Rather, I mean “I wish I had stuck to my principles”….Why [didn’t I]? The answer is partly that 14 years of living in the United States had taken their toll. Americans since the 1960s have wanted the Brits inside the EU to counterbalance the French, whom they do not trust. Writing Henry Kissinger’s biography, I had started to think that way. But a bigger factor — I must admit it — was my personal friendship with Cameron and George Osborne. For the first time in my career I wrote things about which I had my doubts in order to help my friends stay in power. That was wrong and I am sorry I did it. – Niall Ferguson for the Sunday Times (£) Brexit comment in brief George Parker: David Davis wins trust at home as broker in search of Brexit deal – George Parker for the FT (£) Britain must back those with a bold ambition to invest for growth – Nigel Wilson for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Italy to nationalise world’s oldest bank as fury mounts over EU conduct – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard for the Daily Telegraph (£) Brexit news in brief Theresa May warned to protect workers over fears their employment rights could be scrapped under Brexit – Sunday Mirror Farage says he’ll stand as MP for eighth time if ‘Brexit doesn’t mean Brexit’ – Sunday Express Fury as ski giant slaps a ‘Brexit surcharge’ on breaks – Mail on Sunday Brexit Britain turns against globalisation, blaming it for low UK wages and inequality poll reveals – The Independent Some of the side effects of Brexit you didn’t know about: the good and the bad – The Chronicle Angela Merkel says EU-Turkey deal hasn’t ‘gone as far as we hoped’ – Politico And finally… Brexit Secretary a dab hand on the griddle! The high-profile cabinet minister David Davis MP, and Vale MP Alun Cairns, visited the Elephant and Bun to promote small businesses ahead of Mr Davis’ speech to the Welsh CBI and Small Business Saturday. The Brexit Secretary is fond of Welsh cakes and, according to Mr Cairns, was a ‘dab-hand on the griddle’. Television crews turned up to capture the spectacle and it was broadcast on evening news bulletins across the country. – Cowbridge Today