Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Government suffers first defeat on EU Withdrawal Bill as MPs back “meaningful vote” amendment The Government has suffered its first defeat on key Brexit legislation after 11 Tory MPs staged a rebellion to demand a “meaningful” vote on any divorce deal with the EU. An amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill was backed by 309 MPs, compared to 305 who supported the Government bill remaining unchanged. Ministers admitted Wednesday night’s defeat was a “significant setback” but insisted it would not frustrate the Brexit process. However, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described it as a “humiliating loss of authority” for the Prime Minister on the eve of her trip to Brussels, where she hopes EU leaders will approve the start of Brexit trade talks. – Sky News Brexit ‘mutiny’ as threats whip up Tory rebellion – Times (£) The Brexit rebellion is an embarrassment for Theresa May, not a disaster – Robert Peston for the Spectator The government should have listened to the rebels, not tried to crush them – Isabel Hardman for the Spectator “It’s a setback, it’s a minor setback”: Justice Minister Dominic Raab responds to the Government’s first Brexit bill defeat – Channel 4 News Rebel Remainer booze up to celebrate defeating government – Guido Fawkes Stephen Hammond sacked as a Conservative vice-chairman after Brexit rebellion – Independent Brussels reacts with delight tovote as a ‘good day for democracy’ – Times (£) MPs have already had their meaningful Brexit vote. Have they not realised what it meant? – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) > Hugh Bennett on BrexitCentral today: The Remainers’ new-found love of Parliamentary sovereignty is hypocrisy at its finest > On BrexitCentral: How every MP voted on last night’s Amendment > Watch on BrexitCentral’s YouTube channel: Video highlights of yesterday’s debate May to urge EU leaders to start trade talks as quickly as possible at European Council… Theresa May will urge leaders of the other 27 EU states on Thursday to move on as quickly as possible to talks on Britain’s future trade relationship. The EU27 are expected to rubber-stamp the European Commission’s judgment that “sufficient progress” has been made on divorce issues to move Brexit negotiations on to their second phase, when they meet in Mrs May’s absence on the second day of their two-day summit in Brussels on Friday. But the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has warned that this may not mean an immediate start to the trade talks which the Prime Minister is seeking. – ITV News …as EU braces itself for ‘divisive’ Brexit trade talks… EU negotiators look forward to trade talks with Britain next year once a Brexit divorce deal is endorsed by national leaders on Friday — but they also worry this might fray the united front states have shown so far in dealing with London. Negotiations on trade will not start before March and the 27 EU governments will spend the time before that trying to balance priorities among themselves, diplomats say. They will then have a strong interest in boxing London in to the traditional kind of deal the EU has managed to reach with other countries. – Reuters EU leaders likely to give go-ahead to new phase of Brexit talks – Reuters …and MEPs back move to second phase of Brexit talks… MEPs have backed the progression of Brexit talks, as the EU’s chief negotiator warned there was “no going back” on the deal struck so far. The politicians in Strasbourg voted by an overwhelming majority – 556 to 62 – for phase two discussions to begin on future UK-EU relations. Sky News understands all 18 British Conservative MEPs were whipped to abstain. In the lead-up to the vote, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier praised Prime Minister Theresa May for being “courageous and respectable” – switching from his native French into English to say: “Let’s keep calm and continue.” – Sky News …while Nigel Farage accuses Theresa May of ‘dancing to the EU’s tune’ over Brexit The UK has “danced to the EU’s tune” during the Brexit negotiations, former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has claimed. In a debate in Strasbourg, he called the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, “Theresa the appeaser”, saying she had “given in on virtually everything”. The European Parliament later voted to endorse an agreement struck by the UK and European Commission which is set to move the talks on to their next phase. But MEPs also insisted the UK must honour the commitments it has made. – BBC News British concessions to the EU last week are a matter of grave concern – Owen Paterson MP for Prospect Fishermen warn EU states against trying to stop UK taking control of its own waters Scottish fishermen’s leaders have expressed broad satisfaction with the latest EU fisheries deal, while warning member states against trying to stop the UK taking back control of the industry during Brexit talks. They said there were signs that the 27 EU nations, including those with no fishing interests, were adopting “very entrenched views”. Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, added that international law made it “abundantly clear” that when Britain leaves the EU, control of UK waters will revert to the UK governments. – Telegraph There will be “some opportunities” from Brexit, admits Welsh Finance Secretary There will be “some opportunities” from Brexit, the Welsh Government finance secretary has said. Mark Drakeford, who supported the Remain campaign, said he would assess how Wales may benefit when EU rules no longer apply. The next stage of Brexit talks between the UK Government and the EU will cover the future trading relationship. Mr Drakeford’s comments come after the head of Penderyn whisky said Brexit could be good for his business. – BBC News Accept whatever EU27 demands to secure transition “urgently”, says Treasury select committee chair Nicky Morgan Agreeing a transitional period after Brexit is now so urgent that government “should be prepared to accept the terms on which transition is offered”, an influential group of MPs has warned. The Treasury select committee, which includes both Remain and Leave-supporting MPs across the Commons, claim that failing to reach an agreement early next year would be “dramatic and damaging”. – City A.M. Securing a standstill deal is strongly in UK’s interest – Nicky Morgan for the Telegraph (£) The UK wants ‘deep and special’ ties post-Brexit but the EU has other ideas If the EU had to pick a theme song for Phase 2 of the Brexit talks, Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” could be the leading contender. There are roughly 170 countries in the world that are not members of the European Union. And thanks to Brexit, on March 29, 2019, the United Kingdom becomes just one of that pack. Looking ahead to discussions about the future relationship with the U.K., senior EU officials and diplomats are warning that the bloc has numerous partnerships, including trade agreements, with many countries, and Brussels has no intention of diminishing those arrangements by offering London a sweeter package. – Politico EU threatens to strip British airlines of flying rights if negotiators fail The European Commission made its views clear in a notice to all airlines in the event of a no Brexit deal. If negotiators fail to agree a deal, UK air carriers would no longer enjoy traffic rights under any air transport agreement to which the EU is a party, such as the US-EU Open Skies agreement. They would also lose flying rights under agreements between individual EU member states and third countries as they would no longer be considered EU airlines. In addition, all operating licences granted by the British civil aviation authority will no longer be valid for the EU, the notice said, which means the airlines would be cut off from the intra-EU market. – Express Telegraph: The Tory Brexit rebels have left Theresa May exposed. Is that really in the national interest? Confronting them was always a risky strategy for Mrs May, but she evidently hoped to cash in the credit received from all sides in the Conservative Party after getting the EU to sign up to stage two of the talks. The defeat means the Prime Minister travels to a crucial EU summit in Brussels today with her parlous Commons position fully exposed. Those who placed her in that predicament need to ask themselves how that serves the national interest. – Telegraph editorial The Sun: Tory rebels should be ashamed of themselves for compromising Brexit after the critical Commons vote Last night’s Brexit defeat is a bitter humiliation for the Government and a moment of shame for the Tory “rebels”. They have utterly compromised their own leader and Prime Minister, just days after her breakthrough last week and on the brink of the EU summit. And they have handed a victory to all those still bent on overturning the biggest democratic mandate in our history. The PM must find a solution. She and David Davis have to be able to negotiate our historic trade deal without fearing Remainers in Parliament will kill it. But Brussels now knows that europhile MPs and peers, and an entirely self-interested Labour Party, are waiting to pick any deal to pieces and send the Government back to try again. – The Sun editorial Quentin Letts: Cooking up a ruse to keep us mired in the EU gluepit Labour’s Kate Hoey (Vauxhall) cut through the bluster to describe yesterday’s Commons debate as ‘lawyer versus lawyer’. More accurately, however, it was ‘lawyer after lawyer’, for nearly all the MPs who spoke in the debate were Remainers. Miss Hoey was using ‘lawyer’ in the disparaging sense. Here were puffed-up, prolix scriveners, fluffing out coat-tails as they sought to complicate, entangle, embugger and ensure that only they are the ones who run our country. No others need apply. We’re the ruling class. We jurists are the ones who decide and you, the dirty-fingernailed electorate, can get stuffed. – Quentin Letts for the Daily Mail Mick Hume: Why don’t the left want to leave the EU? To the delight of left-leaning cheerleaders, Labour’s two-faced Brexit mask has slipped, revealing the party leadership’s support for ‘Soft Brexit’ – aka ‘Not Brexit’, or ‘Remain By Another Name’. Time to remind them that the desperate desire to remain attached to the EU is not radical or progressive. It is a sign of all that is illiberal, anti-democratic and, yes, conservative in politics today. Here are a few things radical Remainers forgot, as to why there is nothing ‘left’ to cheer about the EU. – Mick Hume for Spiked Stephen Booth: The Brexit bill revolt will show the EU how easily Theresa May can be knocked off course Theresa May’s minority government tonight suffered its first substantive and high-profile defeat in the House of Commons, losing a vote that will see its EU (Withdrawal) Bill amended. Despite the parliamentary arithmetic and the highly contentious nature of the topic, the government had so far managed to marshal this Bill through parliament quite deftly, conceding relatively minor technical points and making its own tweaks to the legislation. Ministers tried to make further guarantees on the use of powers provided in the Bill to see off tonight’s defeat. – Stephen Booth for the Telegraph (£) Nick Timothy: Theresa May means it when she says she wants a ‘Canada Plus’ Brexit deal. And she should get it I always think political commentators make a mistake when they try to understand the Prime Minister. Schooled in the ways of Westminster over many years, they attempt to establish the secret meaning of what she says. Their jobs would be much easier if they realised that Theresa May always means exactly what she says. Since Britain voted to leave the EU, she has hated the suggestion that we must choose between a hard and soft Brexit. Her view was not formed out of political necessity, because her party is divided, but because she believes it is a false dichotomy. – Nick Timothy for the Telegraph (£) Brexit in brief Politico’s essential 5,000-word profile of David Davis – Politico SFO head sees cross-border cooperation surviving Brexit – Reuters Former Swedish PM Carl Bildt warns on Brexit trade deal – BBC News And finally… UK MEPs save kebabs from extinction after Eurocrats try to skewer treat with plan to ban essential additives Britain yesterday saved kebabs from extinction at the hands of Brussels red tape. The UK’s MEPs joined forces with allies from across Europe to defeat a motion dubbed a “death sentence” for the much-loved Doner. Some MEPs wanted to ban the use of crucial chemicals, which protect the meat’s flavour and allow it to stay fresh for longer, over health fears. They had hatched a plan to veto a proposal, put forward by eurocrats, which will allow phosphates to be used in frozen kebab meat. – The Sun