Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Tony Blair asks Angela Merkel to do ‘everything possible’ to reverse Brexit Tony Blair has urged Germany to do ‘everything possible’ to help reverse Brexit and keep Britain in the European Union. The former Prime Minister has been a loud voice in the Remain camp since the EU referendum began and has now asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel for help. “It would be a mistake of historic proportions if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union,” Mr Blair told Business Insider‘s German edition. “Even Europe – especially Germany – has a lot to lose. It is in all our interests to maintain barrier-free trade across the continent and to hold liberal democracies together in times when authoritarian structures are resurgent.” – i News Tory housing minister Dominic Raab warns that immigration has pushed up house prices Immigration has put up house prices by 20% over the past 25 years and Britain’s post-Brexit border rules must take account of demand for affordable homes, the new housing minister has declared. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Dominic Raab revealed that he is writing to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) urging it to consider the negative effects of new arrivals on housing demand as well as the positive economic benefits of immigration. His intervention comes ahead of the committee publishing a report this autumn to inform the government’s new immigration plans. – Sunday Times (£) Raab is right: the Migration Advisory Committee must weigh housing in its judgements – Henry Hill for ConservativeHome Hillary Clinton urges political leaders to stop Brexit dragging Northern Ireland back in time Former United States First Lady and Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton has said that she is ‘deeply concerned’ at the political situation in Northern Ireland. Mrs has made numerous trips to Northern Ireland over the years in a variety of roles including as President Bill Clinton’s First Lady and as President Obama’s Secretary of State. President Clinton is credited with helping to get the Good Friday Agreement over the line and he will receive the Freedom of Belfast next week as part of the agreement’s 20th anniversary celebrations. Mrs Clinton sat down with Northern Ireland news website The Detail for an interview this week to discuss the current political issues facing Northern Ireland, including Brexit. – Belfast Telegraph New party gets £50m backing to ‘break mould’ of UK politics A new political party with access to up to £50m in funding has been secretly under development for more than a year by a network of entrepreneurs, philanthropists and donors keen to “break the Westminster mould”, the Observer can reveal. The movement, spearheaded by a former Labour benefactor, is understood to have been drawn up by a group frustrated by the tribal nature of politics, the polarisation caused by Brexit and the standard of political leadership on all sides. It appears to have a centrist policy platform that borrows ideas from both left and right. – Observer De La Rue hires legal bigwigs for fight over post-Brexit blue passports British banknote printer De La Rue has hired legal heavyweight Slaughter and May to help it fight the Government’s decision to let a Franco-Dutch rival make the country’s new blue passports after Brexit. Sources said the elite law firm, one of Britain’s so-called magic circle firms that can charge clients over £1,000 an hour, according to the Centre for Policy Studies, is getting the money printing business ready to challenge the Government’s plan to award the £490m contract to rival Gemalto. The Home Office has extended a so-called standstill period until April 17 so that the Basingstoke-based company can get more information about the tender process before a final decision is announced. – Telegraph (£) ‘Get match-fit for Brexit,’ urges John Lewis chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield Britain’s businesses have a long way to go to get “match fit” for Brexit, according to productivity tsar Sir Charlie Mayfield, despite a marked improvement in output over the past two quarters. The John Lewis Partnership chairman, who set up Be the Business, a group of high-ranking bosses seeking to address the woeful productivity performance, said a 10-year resurgence was needed to make up for a decade of stagnation. “Brexit does make this more urgent,” Mayfield said. “We are going to be competing in the world more than we were previously. Our ability to do that is going to depend on our ability to drive productivity forward.” – Sunday Times (£) European firms line up to bid on more of Britain’s rail franchises, sparking fresh fury Britain’s rail system is braced for a new wave of anger from politicians and the public after it emerged that operators owned by European governments are lining up to bid for more franchises. The Government has granted bidding rights to a trio of continental train companies from countries where foreign operators are frozen out. It means just six out of 18 rail operators eligible to bid for franchises such as Great Western and Cross Country are British. The furore comes as Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, faces intense pressure over the very fabric of the franchising system in the wake of the East Coast mainline controversy. – Telegraph Robert Colvile: We must not let jingoism halt worthy business takeovers We often complain we have too few national champions. Yet when the public pressure is on, it’s startling to see how many firms find themselves taking up Britannia’s shield. First came the protectionist paroxysms over De La Rue losing the battle to produce Britain’s post-Brexit passports, merely because its bid was tens of millions of pounds higher than a European rival’s. Then we were immediately plunged into the furore over Melrose’s takeover of GKN. It turned out that this little-known conglomerate, with a history of mediocre management and a share price that had flatlined for at least five years, was in fact a red, white and blue engineering giant, and a tireless contributor to our national security. – Robert Colvile for the Telegraph (£) Brexit in brief Elected representatives will do the right thing on Brexit – Nick Clegg for the FT (£) Sturgeon aims to boost Scots-China trade with visit – BBC News