Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Bid to delay Brexit by Hilary Benn’s Remain-dominated select committee slammed as ‘despairing and defeatist’ Remainer MPs have been branded “despairing and defeatist” over a bid to delay Brexit. Labour’s Hilary Benn wants more time to strike a deal, claiming the seven months left is not enough. But it has sparked a furious row among a Commons committee set up to scrutinise the process. Eight of its 19 MPs refused to back a report calling for Britain’s departure — set for March 29 next year — to be put on ice. They claim it is an attempt to keep Britain in the EU “by sleight of hand” and have drawn up rival recommendations. Mr Benn, who chairs the committee, said the Government faces a huge task to draw up a credible plan on how to operate the Irish border once we leave. He said the two-year transition period could prove too short to clinch an agreement and risks a dangerous “no-deal” situation. – Sun on Sunday Postpone Brexit date and prolong transition, suggest Remain MPs – Politico Call for Brexit transition delay provokes bust-up – Sky News Brexit committee clashes over calls for extension to transition period – Belfast Telegraph MPs are trying to stop Brexit with partisan report, says Jacob Rees-Mogg – Telegraph (£) > On BrexitCentral today: All Leave-backers on the Brexit Select Committee reject its new anti-Brexit report Gibraltar not covered by provisional Brexit transition deal, Spain warns Gibraltar will not be covered by the provisional Brexit transition agreement that Theresa May hopes to conclude with EU leaders next week, the Spanish government has warned. Mrs May hopes to reach an agreement-in-principle on the 21-month transition period at next week’s European Council but Gibraltar will have to wait months to discover if it is to be covered by the deal. Last year the European Union granted Spain a veto over Gibraltar which the Madrid government reiterated to the Sunday Telegraph last night. “If the UK wants any agreement between the EU and UK – including the transitional agreement – to apply to Gibraltar after its withdrawal on March 29 2019, it will need the agreement with Spain,” said a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. – Telegraph (£) EU told to ‘stop pushing us around’ or UK will not hand over a penny Bullying EU chiefs have been warned their campaign of “threats and scaremongering” will never halt Brexit. Furious MPs and business leaders have bluntly told Brussels negotiators to “stop pushing us around” – or risk Britain walking away without handing over a penny. They have called for them to stop trying to punish the UK in a hard-hitting letter to European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker days before the next round of talks begin. The heavy-handed tactics have already backfired by hardening the determination of millions who voted to leave the EU, the letter says. And it warns that it is the other 27 EU states which will come off worse if we crash out without a deal. Copies of the letter have also been delivered to EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, European Council president Donald Tusk and European Parliament Brexit co-ordinator and anti-Brexit Twitter troll Guy Verhofstadt. – Sun on Sunday Give the City of London a fair deal, Luxembourg’s finance minister tells the EU The finance minister of Luxembourg has called on the EU to “be creative” and offer a unique deal that will protect financial services in Britain and on the Continent, ahead of a crunch meeting of European leaders this week. “We should look at thinking in new categories and be creative . . . in the new relationship,” Pierre Gramegna told The Sunday Times. “Maybe we are stuck too much in precedent.” He warned that despite European cities, including Paris and Frankfurt, battling to attract business from London, a bad Brexit deal would make it increasingly likely that companies will “repatriate” activities to centres outside the EU, such as New York, Singapore and Hong Kong. “Some of the financial centres outside the EU are very actively courting institutions and devising schemes to attract [firms],” Gramegna said. – Sunday Times (£) How the Norway-Sweden model could help Britain find a Brexit border solution Along an icy, windswept road in the hills of Scandinavia, the border between Norway and Sweden is almost buried in snow. Two discreet signs and a small monolith mark the crossing. There are no customs posts, no guards in peaked caps, and no snaking queues of cars. It looks like the loneliest road in Europe. But somewhere in the adjacent pines trees, a carefully hidden CCTV camera watches those who pass through. If any suspicious activity is spotted, such as potential smugglers or a stray commercial lorry, a mobile unit of border guards is dispatched to intercept the vehicle on either side of the border. – Telegraph (£) Fisheries may still be bound by EU fishing quotas for around two years, even after Britain leaves the bloc Key figures behind the Leave campaign had pledged Britain would be free to “take back control” over its waters after Brexit by scrapping the contentious common fisheries policy which grants foreign fleets fishing rights in UK waters. The policy grants foreign vessels fishing rights between 12 and 200 nautical miles off the UK’s coastline, providing they abide by quotas set by the European Commission. But the Government is now ready to capitulate to the European Union’s fishing policy demands on policy Monday in order to secure a transition deal, according to the Financial Times. – Sunday Express UK set to back down over fishing quotas during Brexit transition – FT (£) May and Sturgeon Brexit ‘power-grab’ row heads for Supreme Court A stand-off between Nicola Sturgeon and Theresa May over how to deal with new powers coming back from Brussels after Brexit is headed for the UK’s highest court, sources close to the UK and Scottish governments believe. The SNP administration has prepared a Holyrood continuity bill aiming to make provision for the continuity of Scottish devolved matters after withdrawal from the EU. It comes after it accused the UK government of a “power grab” in which Westminster would be able to legislate in devolved areas without Holyrood’s consent. The bill is intended to act as a stopgap measure in the event that the administrations fail to reach agreement on which powers held at EU level should pass to Scotland and which, such as policy on agriculture, fishing quotas and food labelling, should go at least initially to Westminster after Brexit. – Sunday Times (£) Secret report warns that Britain’s borders and databases will not be ready for the EU trade deal at the end of 2020 Britain’s customs system will not be ready in time for the start of its new relationship with the European Union at the end of 2020, according to a damning report presented in secret to senior cabinet ministers last week. The readiness assessment, drawn up by senior civil servants, was given to Theresa May’s Brexit war cabinet on Tuesday afternoon. But ministers did not get a chance to study it properly before the meeting was cut short by a Commons vote. The cabinet was told it would have to sign up in Brussels this week to a transition phase lasting 21 months from the date of Brexit next March, with a new trade deal kicking in at the end of December 2020. David Davis, the Brexit secretary, announced on Thursday that Britain would accept the EU’s target date of March 29, 2019. – Sunday Times (£) Angry Labour MPs reportedly plotting new pro-EU party Senior Labour MPs appalled by Jeremy Corbyn’s performance over the Salisbury poisoning have been in secret talks with the Liberal Democrats and at least one Conservative MP about forming a new political party called Start Again. Plans for a new pro-European centre party have been openly discussed as part of cross-party discussions on Brexit, according to sources present. One of those involved in the plotting — a former member of the shadow cabinet — told The Sunday Times that Corbyn’s refusal to blame Russia for the attack would cause MPs to abandon Labour. “This is a watershed moment,” the MP said. “It has caused a number of people to question why we are in this party.” – Sunday Times (£) Daniel Hannan: Openness to overseas talent has helped us beat larger foes For eighteen months, hardline Europhiles have applied a simple algorithm to every economic development. Bad news? “Because of Brexit!” Good news? “Brexit hasn’t happened yet!” Even the most monomaniacal Remainers, though, struggled to blame Brexit for Unilever’s decision to consolidate in Rotterdam. “Let me categorically say that this had nothing to do with Brexit,” declared the company’s chairman, Marijn Dekkers. The real motive, as every business journalist knows, is that the Anglo-Dutch company had been spooked by last year’s $143 billion (£102 billion) takeover bid by the American food giant Kraft Heinz. Unilever’s joint listing in Britain and the Netherlands made it vulnerable to future bids and, since British company law makes acquisitions easy, its managers decided to seek the relative protection of the Dutch system. – Daniel Hannan MEP for the Telegraph (£) Liam Fox: Brexit offers big opportunities to showcase our creativity and innovation The UK has cutting-edge capabilities. We lead the world in art and culture, food and drink, finance and education. Last year we had 58,000 tech start-ups in the UK, a new tech business every hour. Digital technology has helped reduce many of the old barriers to trade and made the world more connected. You don’t have to leave Basingstoke to sell your digital app to someone in Beijing. UK businesses have a huge amount to gain from this trend. The IMF predicts 90 per cent of global growth will be generated beyond the borders of Europe in the coming years. Much of this will come from Asian economies, where new markets are growing to match their new wealth. Trade between the UK and China is already at record levels, worth more than £59billion, while UK exports to China increased by over 25 per cent last year. China’s middle class is expected to number 600 million by 2020 – greater than the current population of the EU. This offers big opportunities for UK businesses in a market that wants UK goods and services, and this Government is putting the UK in a position to benefit. – Liam Fox MP for the Sunday Express Macer Hall: At last, a Brexit deal is in sight Theresa May heads to a leaders’ summit next week that is expected at last to agree the framework for UK’s exit from the bloc. “EU chiefs love to boast about how quickly these decisions get taken,” one source close to the negotiations told me. “You can expect an announcement that it was all wrapped up in about 17 seconds.” Britain’s diplomatic wrangle with Brussels has developed a predictable rhythm. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his chief negotiator Michel Barnier spend months pulling glum faces and whingeing about an alleged lack of “clarity” about Britain’s Brexit plans. Then the Prime Minister makes a speech setting out detailed proposals seeking to accommodate both sides. – Macer Hall for the Express Brexit in brief Conservatives need to be as economically bold as Margaret Thatcher – George Freeman MP for the FT (£) Weak Theresa May is destined to fail – but it may not be Brexit that brings her down – John Rentoul for the Independent The Irish border issue: where do the key players stand? – UK in a changing Europe The Liberal Democrats are pinning their hopes for a revival on Remainers in May’s elections – Buzzfeed News