Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team No deal, no cash: Army of 60 Brexiteers tell Theresa May to get tough on EU… Urging her to take an “assertive” approach at this week’s EU Council meeting, high-profile figures including former chancellor Nigel Lawson, hotelier Sir Rocco Forte and a host of MPs and peers, say the UK must reserve the right to walk away without a trade deal – and take our £39billion with us. They also advise Mrs May to step up preparations for a “no deal” in order to give Britain “real leverage in the Brexit endgame”. It comes after Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson warned against a “soft, yielding and seemingly infinitely long bog roll Brexit” and Brexit Secretary David Davis vowed that the “hard work won’t stop” to ensure Britain fulfils its “free trade destiny”. The letter, organised by Economists for Free Trade is backed by more than 20 Conservative MPs and lords, including four former Cabinet ministers. – Express > On BrexitCentral today: May urged by leading economists, businesspeople and politicians to step up ‘no deal’ preparations …as former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith urges the PM to seize control of the Brexit talks and walk out if EU snubs trade talks Theresa May has been urged to walk out of next week’s Brexit talks if the EU refuses to discuss future trade links. Senior allies want the PM to seize control of negotiations now the flagship departure bill is set to become law. And if EU officials rebuff her demands, she should hand over her business card and say: “Call me if you change your minds. I’m out of here.” Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has told Mrs May to turn the tables on “bullying” Eurocrats when she returns to Brussels this week. He believes she is in her strongest position yet to get them to discuss their relationship with Britain when we leave on March 29 next year. In the 15 months since Article 50 was triggered, they have refused to discuss trade while our own MPs argued among themselves. – Sun on Sunday Liam Fox slams Boris Johnson’s ‘bog roll Brexit’ warning and insists he would be happy to stay in the EU ‘a few extra months’ Liam Fox tore strips off Boris Johnson’s “bog roll Brexit” warning yesterday – saying he’d be happy to stay in the EU a little longer. The Trade Supremo insisted it wouldn’t bother him if the transition period was extended by “a few extra months”. It put him at odds with the Foreign Secretary who is eager to leave and warned the PM not to allow the process drag on. BoJo declared: “We don’t want some bog roll Brexit – soft, yielding and seemingly infinitely long.” But Dr Fox said he’d be happy to let the process roll on a little longer, if it means making a clean break. – Sun on Sunday Deselection warning ‘forced Tory rebels to back down on threat to inflict a crushing Brexit defeat on the PM’ Rebel Tory MPs called off a threat to inflict a crushing Brexit defeat on Theresa May after they were warned they could be kicked out of the party, it was claimed last night. In a series of bruising secret meetings, Chief Whip Julian Smith said there would be ‘severe consequences’ if they humiliated the Prime Minister. According to one source, his comment was seen as a clear threat that the rebels, led by ex Ministers Dominic Grieve, Nicky Morgan and Anna Soubry, could be deselected as MPs. – Mail on Sunday Fight over Brexit continues as thousands take to streets two years after referendum… Tens of thousands of people have marched through London on the second anniversary of the EU referendum to demand a fresh vote on the terms of the Brexit deal. Politicians from across the political spectrum took part in the People’s Vote rally on Saturday as the divisions over withdrawal from the European Union showed no sign of narrowing. Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable and his predecessor Sir Nick Clegg, Green co-leader Caroline Lucas, actor and Labour activist Tony Robinson and pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller were among those who joined the crowd in the capital. – Belfast Telegraph …as new polling shows people still haven’t changed their minds Two years on from Brexit and the public are still as finely split on the decision to leave the EU as they were when the referendum originally took place. It’s been two years since Britain voted to leave the European Union. Since then, David Cameron has resigned, the Conservatives lost their Parliamentary majority, Theresa May has faced multiple rebellions from within her own party, and no deal has yet been struck on Britain’s relationship with the EU post-Brexit. The UK is due to leave the EU on the 29th of March 2019, but with that date fast approaching there has been little change in how people feel about the decision to leave the EU. – Telegraph (£) Brexit voters stick to their guns despite grumbles about May – FT (£) Bosses attack Theresa May on Brexit muddle – Sunday Times (£) Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell supports another election (not another referendum) if there is no Brexit deal Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said he believes a second General Election would be better than a referendum if a Brexit agreement cannot be reached. The Labour MP voiced his preference in the event a deal is not agreed and approved before the UK leaves the European Union. Speaking at Open Labour’s annual conference in London he added he wanted to avoid a Ukip resurgence or a rise of xenophobia that marred the 2016 vote. Mr McDonnell said: “I have said time and time again we don’t want to rule out any form of democratic engagement.” – Sun on Sunday British investors are continuing to embrace risk as they enjoy healthy stock market returns in the wake of Brexit Brexit talks have since dragged, but the FTSE AllShare is up 30 per cent and three quarters of private investors say the vote has either had a positive impact on their investments or made no difference. While 86 per cent expected a negative impact before the referendum, only 25 per cent feel negative now, according to research from stockbroker The Share Centre. CEO Richard Stone said investors are seizing opportunities with 56 per cent of stock trades being ‘buys’: “Many are targeting smaller, higher risk stocks including Sirius Minerals and UK Oil & Gas Investments, as well as income-paying blue chips such as Vodafone, Lloyds and GlaxoSmithKline.” Stone said nerves may grow as next year’s Brexit deadline looms, but markets should be supported by the positive global economy: “This should drive company earnings and improve stock market valuations.” – Express Lord Lilley calls for a UK skills revolution after we leave EU With his introduction to the House of Lords in the coming days, Lord Lilley has said Britain needs to “get back to the idea that the first option of British industry is to train its own people”. “A lack of emphasis” on vocational skills goes back more than 100 years he said, as the Government “has not gone nearly far enough” to address the problem. The issue is set to be high on his agenda when he takes up his new role in as a Peer on Tuesday. Slamming the previous Labour Government, Mr Lilley has said the “open borders” policies, that increased under Blair, made the problem of a lack of skills training worse. – Express Heathrow boss: ‘Brexit is an opportunity and a catalyst’ John Holland-Kaye isn’t a politician. But listening to the chief executive of Heathrow talk about the airport’s plans for a third runway, you could be forgiven for forgetting that. “We want the new jobs at the airport to be local jobs for local people,” he says of Heathrow’s potential expansion, which the 2015 Davies Commission said could create 40,000 roles. That number, he says in full politician mode, “is the chance to end youth unemployment” and regenerate nearby deprived areas. On Monday, MPs will finally say yes or no to Heathrow’s proposed third runway, the furthest the airport has progressed with its plans in 25 years of trying. With the Government whipping the vote in favour and the SNP expressing support, the runway is likely to get the go-ahead at last. – Telegraph (£) German investment body calls for ‘unhindered access’ post-Brexit The association representing German asset managers wants “unhindered access” to investment services provided by the City of London after the UK leaves the EU. The comments by the German Investment Funds Association (BVI) will be seized on by Brexit supporters as evidence that European investors want the EU and UK to maintain open financial markets. Philip Hammond, UK chancellor, last week repeated his call for a mutually beneficial deal on financial services. With nine months remaining till the divorce is due to be finalised, asset managers and regulators are stepping up preparations for Brexit. – FT (£) EU migration row to relegate Brexit to footnote at this week’s Brussels summit European Union heads of state and government will meet in Brussels next week for talks set to be dominated by deep divisions over migration, which threaten to topple Angela Merkel and will relegate Brexit negotiations to little more than a summit footnote. Chancellor Merkel, the bloc’s most powerful leader, is relying on marathon talks at the European Council to deliver EU-level reforms to migration policy, which she needs to head off a challenge from her Christian Social Union coalition partners. But Mrs Merkel, the “Queen of Europe”, faces stiff opposition from rebellious anti-migrant governments in Austria and the Visegrad group of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. – Telegraph (£) Express: Two years since the Brexit vote and we’re on course Who would have thought that two years later the public would still be so confused as to the endgame. It has been an exhausting experience for us and also for David Davis – interviewed in our newspaper today – who has been leading our Brexit negotiations with Brussels. But in spite of the obstacles put up by the EU team seemingly at every opportunity Mr Davis remains remarkably upbeat about Britain’s future once we have got back our borders and our laws and are in control of our own destiny once again. “It’s going to be fantastic,” he says. – Express editorial Janet Daley: It’s time for Theresa May to stop being ‘Mrs Nice Girl’ with the EU Theresa May’s entire canon of set piece statements on the matter have been models of gracious generosity and diplomatic dignity: it’s been all about “closest possible cooperation”, and “our shared history and values”, blah-blah. And meanwhile there was Jean-Claude Juncker, the Brexiteers’ best ally, telling the Irish Parliament last week that Britain was a country that does not “yet know that they are small”. Small are we? Think this is poor little Greece you’re dealing with, do you? You ought to remember what we’re like when we get angry…Sorry, where was I? – Janet Daley for the Telegraph (£) Mark Wallace: Three laws for Leavers: Be thankful, be watchful, and above all be happy It’s hard to believe that it’s two years since the day of the EU referendum. In that funny way memory has, it simultaneously seems that time has flown and that the pre-referendum world is unimaginably distant: two whole years, but also just two years. What was then referendum day is in the process of becoming Independence Day (as Boris Johnson proposed, to a roar from the crowd, at that Wembley debate), but we aren’t there yet. The main error committed by Leavers since the ballot was thinking that the battle to escape the EU and take back control had ended on 24th June 2016, when in fact it had just begun. There are all sorts of ways in which we could look back on that referendum campaign, but reminiscence is less important than securing the result. – Mark Wallace for ConservativeHome Sun on Sunday: Two-faced Brexit demands from Airbus are pretty rich Taxpayers will rightly feel outraged that Airbus pleaded for a government handout while threatening to leave the UK. It is pretty rich for the firm — which raked in £2.7billion profit last year — to hold out the begging bowl to Brits while trying to trouser more money. Unsurprisingly, it is not the first time they have made such threats. They warned they would leave if Britain did not join the Euro, which, of course, has worked wonders for Greece and Spain . . . Theresa May has been up against relentless doom-mongering from the business and financial sectors, the civil service and Remoaners in the Lords. She has seen off the rebels, now she needs to see off naysayers pushing bogus threats and forecasts. We are tired of empty grandstanding. – Sun on Sunday editorial Ted Bromund: Yes, Brexit Will Happen. And It Will Work. The U.S. ambassador to the U.K., Woody Johnson, recently asked why Britain was “so nervous” about leaving the EU, commenting that this need not present “a major challenge.” Of course, leaving the EU will bring changes. That’s a good thing. The U.K. will continue to trade with Europe, regardless of whether it is in the EU, just as the United States does. But the opportunities outside the EU are vast. Outside the EU, the U.K. can negotiate its own free trade agreements with partners such as Australia, which is eager to do a deal. The U.K. can return to free trade in food, its traditional policy, which as a food-importing nation serves Britain well. The U.K. can make sure that the City—its Wall Street—isn’t swamped by new EU regulations, and it can take an independent stand in regulatory bodies around the world, a stand shaped by its interests. – Ted Bromund for the Daily Signal James Forsyth: How the EU’s migration crisis is making Brexit more difficult Over the last few years, the key to any deal in Europe has been Merkel. Now, she is not going to ride to Britain’s rescue—as David Cameron found to his cost in the renegotiation. But she could push the Commission towards a slightly more pragmatic approach. However, she is now trying to keep her own governing coalition together as well as come up with a deal with the French for Eurozone reform, leaving next to no time for Brexit. I am told that when it is discussed in meetings she is ‘visibly distracted’, turning to aides for advice far more frequently than she does on other topics. This situation is one of the many reasons why the UK government should have prepared vigorously for no deal: a credible threat to walk away from the table if the Commission didn’t behave in a reasonable fashion would have got the member states’ attention. – James Forsyth for the Spectator Brexit in brief The Bank of England wants to slow the UK economy some more – John Redwood’s Diary Ireland’s Leo Varadkar puts Fine Gael on election footing – Sunday Times (£)