Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Brexiteers ‘line up Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jacob Rees-Mogg as dream team to replace May’ Theresa May could face a coup that will bring in a Brexit “dream team” if she brings in plans to keep Britain in a customs union, it was claimed last night. Eurosceptic MPs have been in touch with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson demanding he agree a plan that would see Michael Gove as his deputy PM and Jacob Rees-Mogg as Chancellor. BoJo told one plotter he would be “ready” for a leadership battle and insisted the “cavalry is coming” to stop the customs union plan, it was reported. Mrs May will discuss Britain’s future relationship with the EU with her top team this week. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has told colleagues he is ready to walk out of government if the customs union arrangement is agreed. – The Sun Sticking with EU regulations after Brexit ‘could cost us £240 billion a year’ Failing to ditch EU regulations after Brexit could cost the economy £240 billion a year, experts warn today. Excessive regulation costs the UK £120 billion annually but this could DOUBLE, according to forecasts by the Economists for Free Trade. It comes as the Cabinet debate this week whether Britain should align or converge from EU rules after March 2019. The intervention comes from the Economists for Free Trade which estimate current regulations cost 6 per cent of GDP. Professor Patrick Minford says current rules “could just be the beginning” if Britain remains aligned and the EU becomes even more of a “federalist bloc.” – The Sun Jacob Rees-Mogg says Treasury are ‘inventing’ Brexit forecasts… Jacob Rees-Mogg has stepped up his attack on the Treasury, accusing civil servants in the department of producing a Brexit report that is “fundamentally wrong”. The leading Tory Brexiteer, who was involved in a scuffle with protesters at a university event on Friday, was speaking about an internal Government assessment made public earlier this week. The assessment suggested the options for a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU would all leave Britain worse off. Mr Rees-Mogg had earlier said that the Treasury’s economic modelling was “clearly politically influenced” and that they were “fiddling the figures” in the report. – Sky News > Listen via BrexitCentral’s YouTube channel: Jacob Rees-Mogg accuses the Treasury of “fiddling the figures” on Radio 4’s Today programme …while Theresa May is told: Don’t let Philip Hammond ruin Brexit Theresa May must invoke the example of Margaret Thatcher to defy Philip Hammond in order to seek a “clean Brexit” and end the current “uncertainty”, a senior Tory has warned. Writing for The Telegraph ahead of two crunch meetings of Mrs May’s Brexit war cabinet this week, Bernard Jenkin cites Mrs Thatcher’s dispute with Sir Geoffrey Howe over Europe and declares that the former prime minister only “won the battle of the rebate” by overruling civil servants and ministers. He accuses ministers of being “vague” and “divided”, saying that while Mrs May “sticks to one policy”, Mr Hammond “keeps advocating another”. – Telegraph (£) …as the PM plans to break Brexit deadlock Number 10 is expected to present a blueprint to the Brexit strategy committee detailing a potential new customs arrangement with the union on Friday. Drawn up by Mrs May’s Europe advisor Ollie Robbins, details of the plan have not been divulged. Cabinet sources have told The Times that ministers may be receptive to the blueprint. ‘We will approach this with an open mind’ an unnamed minister said. ‘If this is about tricking us to a soft Brexit, then it won’t wash. If it’s about genuinely keeping things smooth, then of course it will be properly considered.’ The Brexit strategy committee is made up of 11 cabinet members, four of whom backed Leave during the referendum and seven who campaigned to remain in the EU. – PoliticsHome EU and UK seek speedy Brexit deal on defence and security Brexit negotiators are seeking to fast track a security and defence deal to allow the UK and EU to skip a transition and move straight to a new relationship after exit day, according to officials preparing talks. But divisions have emerged within the EU, with France and Cyprus wary of a precedent that gives a measure of influence to a non-EU country over the bloc’s policy towards the rest of the world. “If we do something special for the Brits then we have others knocking at the door,” said one senior EU diplomat who expected a more arms-length partnership after Brexit. – FT (£) Business ‘hugely frustrated’ by government delay on Brexit immigration paper, says CBI The government must provide clarity over its future immigration policy, according to an influential business lobby group, after reports it may delay publication of a key policy paper on the issue. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said firms will be “frustrated” if the government does not give an indication of what the future policy on migration will be, adding that it will deter investment. Josh Hardie, CBI deputy director-general, said: “Businesses will be hugely frustrated by rumours that the government won’t reveal their plans on staff mobility until the last minute. From tech start-ups to care homes, not knowing what staff you will be able to access will deter investment. – City A.M. Ex-cabinet secretary says Brexit attacks on civil service ‘are worthy of 1930s Germany’ Leading Brexiters who accuse civil servants of sabotaging Britain’s exit from the EU are adopting dangerous tactics similar to those of rightwing German nationalists between the two world wars, a former head of the civil service has warned. In a stark assessment of the acute tensions developing over the issue, Andrew Turnbull, who led the civil service under Tony Blair, said that Whitehall officials had become the victims of “pre-emptive scapegoating” by Brexiters who feared they were losing the argument. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the new leader of the European research group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs, has suggested that Treasury officials could be deliberately trying to frustrate Brexit. Yesterday he repeated a claim that the Treasury was “fiddling the figures” to emphasise the downside of a “hard” Brexit in which Britain would leave both the single market and customs union. – Observer Michael Gove’s fish vision goes swimmingly Michael Gove, the UK environment secretary, has said Brexit provides a “once in a lifetime chance” for Scotland’s fishing industry. In an interview with The Sunday Times, he added that he remains adamant that the UK should leave the unpopular common fisheries policy (CFP) when the UK leaves the EU in March 2019, and not at the end of any transition period. “The prime minister is crystal clear; the moment we leave, we become an independent coastal state. I and my colleagues are clear; we will have continuing good relations with our European partners, but we will decide access and quotas.” – Sunday Times (£) Nigel Farage says Ireland has been humiliated by the EU Ireland has been “humiliated” by the EU, Nigel Farage said. The former Ukip leader called for a eurosceptic mobilisation to win votes off pro-EU politicians in the next European elections and said there was a democratic deficit in the national debate. During his Dublin visit he recalled the austerity of the post-2008 European bailout of the Irish state and urged citizens to rebel against Brussels. The MEP said: “What on earth is going on in the politics of this country? How much more humiliated can the Irish nation be than for years being run by the Troika?” – Belfast Telegraph Nicola Sturgeon alarms SNP with Brexit stance Nicola Sturgeon has alarmed some senior SNP colleagues over her stance on Brexit after announcing that she will decide whether to pursue a second independence referendum later this year once the terms of the EU exit deal are clearer. Privately some high-level party figures are concerned she appears to be predicating a potential second referendum on the prospect of a hard Brexit when a softer Brexit now appears more likely. There is also concern her approach, which would see Scots told they may be able to remain in the EU if they vote for independence, would antagonise a large number of SNP and independence supporters who support Brexit. – Sunday Times (£) Bernard Jenkin: It is a constitutional truth that civil servants advise, but ministers decide It is a constitutional truth that civil servants advise, but ministers decide, but what officials need and deserve is clear, unambiguous and united direction from their ministers. If ministers are vague or divided, life for officials becomes impossible, as we can see now. Ministerial collective responsibility really matters. If the Prime Minister sticks to one policy (“I do not want Britain to be part of the Common Commercial Policy and I do not want us to be bound by the Common External Tariff”) and the Chancellor keeps advocating another (“I welcomed Carolyn Fairbairn’s speech on Monday” [advocating a customs union with the EU]), what are officials meant to do? Civil servants tend to support their departmental ministers, because the line of accountability goes direct from the department to Parliament. – Bernard Jenkin MP for the Telegraph (£) Lord Price: My experience tells me Britain needs to leave the Customs Union. Here’s why I want to be clear; I voted to remain in the referendum. But having spent the best part of the last two years travelling the world as Minister of State for Trade and Investment and then Trade Policy, I am in little doubt that the UK can have a bright future if we steer in the right direction. That future is not as a member, full or associate, of the single market. The EU’s message is that in order to have free movement of goods, services and capital we must accept free movement of people, the supremacy of the European Court of Justice, and pay our dues. This is not consistent with a vote to leave the EU. The previous chancellor, the Bank of England and big business all warned of the economic consequences of such a move. The majority of voters were not swayed from another course. – Former International Trade Minister Lord Price for the Telegraph (£) > On BrexitCentral: Professor David Paton: Why Labour should embrace free trade and campaign to stay out of the EU Customs Union http://brexitcentral.com/labour-embrace-free-trade-campaign-stay-eu-customs-union/ Liam Halligan: Brexit sums don’t stack up? I agree entirely Official economic models overstate the importance of trade with nations that are geographically close. This ignores the plummeting cost of communications and information transfer inside global value chains that, over recent years, has transformed world trade. That helps explain why UK exports to the US, even without a trade agreement, outstrip threefold those to France. It’s why British exports to United Arab Emirates are almost double those to Sweden. These official “sums don’t stack up”, then, because they’re driven by outdated, erroneous assumptions. But they’re driven, too, by the relentless determination of over-entitled politicians and civil servants to sabotage the biggest act of democracy in British history. – Liam Halligan for the Telegraph (£) Telegraph: Theresa May needs to stand up to these EU bullies The EU has threatened sanctions to stop the UK deregulating and cutting taxes after Brexit – which is exactly why Britain was right to vote to leave in the first place. Day by day, it is becoming obvious that the idea that the EU is a cuddly, useful trading bloc is a fantasy. It is, in fact, a nasty, bullying technocracy, which tries to make up for what it lacks in legitimacy by using economic leverage to force ever closer union. Britain, it fears, is too rich, too powerful, to be allowed to prosper as a free nation state on the border of Europe: to allow us to do so would disprove the EU’s rationale. So, we must be tied down by regulatory equivalences enforced by the threat of sanctions, like some sort of rogue state. – Telegraph editorial John Redwood: How could we begin a transition without knowing the destination? I do not see how we can decide on a so called Transition period without knowing if there is something to transit to that both sides want. The March Council needs to be told we only accept transition if there is an Agreement and if it needs extra time to implement. The government should say to the EU we are offering no new barriers to trade – what barriers do they wish to impose on their trade with us? Were they to agree to no new barriers we could speedily translate that into a Free Trade Agreement and register it at the WTO. I think the EU also needs to be told that the provisional generous agreement on money and other matters only comes into play if there is a comprehensive free trade deal which the Uk likes. As someone who does not want to pay the EU anything extra, I would need persuading that any Agreement was value for money for what is an ex gratia payment. – John Redwood’s Diary Brexit in brief Ministers delude themselves over a bespoke deal as EU hardens stance – Jeremy Warner for the Telegraph (£) Europhile mandarins must not be allowed to dictate the terms of Brexit – Telegraph letters (£) We need a pragmatic trade-off over EU migration control and Single Market access – John Neidus for ConservativeHome Theresa May must follow Thatcher example and defy Hammond on Brexit, demands senior Tory – Express