Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Theresa May faces Valentine’s Day rebellion as furious Brexiteer MPs vow to withhold support for today’s Commons Brexit motion Theresa May’s eleventh hour Brexit talks could be plunged into chaos again if Tory hardliners carry out a threat to defeat her in the Commons. A 50-strong group of Eurosceptics vowed to withdraw their support for the PM in a symbolic vote to endorse two more weeks of negotiations. They are furious with the wording of No10’s motion, claiming it endorses Parliament’s close vote two weeks ago against carrying out Brexit without a deal. Senior figures in the European Research Group accused Mrs May of entering into a secret pact with Remainer Tory rebels to end their own revolt this week by quietly pushing no deal off the table. A leading ERG source told The Sun: “She has done a deal with the Remainers to get their votes. That’s why the Chief Whip refused to reword the motion when we pleaded with him.” – The Sun Theresa May braced for fresh Brexit defeat as MPs accuse her of ruling out no deal – Telegraph (£) Tory eurosceptics set to rebel in key Brexit vote over fears government ruling out no-deal – PoliticsHome Theresa May prepares to fight rebels over ‘bid to block no-deal’ – The Times (£) > Yesterday on BrexitCentral: Row brewing over Thursday’s Government motion opposing a no-deal Brexit …while she plays down reports of a ‘deal or delay’ crunch vote… Theresa May has sought to play down reports that she will face MPs with a stark Brexit choice between her deal and delaying Brexit just a few days before March 29, after her top civil servant was overheard outlining the plan in a bar. Speaking in the House of Commons, Mrs May told MPs not to pay heed to “what someone said to someone else as overheard by someone else, in a bar. It is very clear the government’s position is the same. We triggered Article 50 (the process by which the UK leaves the EU)… that had a two-year time limit, that ends on the 29 March.” She added: “We want to leave with a deal, and that’s what we are working for.” As there is no majority support for a ‘no deal’ scenario in the House of Commons, it is likely that an extension to Article 50 will be requested in March anyway if MPs continue to refuse to back the deal. It came as Olly Robbins, the Prime Minister’s chief Brexit negotiator, was rebuked by the Brexit Secretary, who warned that the UK cannot extend Article 50 into the “darkness”. – Telegraph (£) > WATCH: Tory MP Henry Smith asks May to rule out Brexit delay …although Remain-backing MPs give May 30 days to pass a deal or have Parliament delay Brexit A cross-party group of MPs, including Labour’s Yvette Cooper and Tory minister Sir Oliver Letwin, have said they are ready to table an amendment to delay Brexit if a deal is not in place by then. It is the latest attempt by Remain MPs to block a no-deal Brexit. And speculation is high that some Cabinet ministers could even resign so they can back the rebels’ plan. Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, Justice Secretary David Gauke and Business secretary Greg Clark are set to support the Cooper-Letwin bid, according to a Cabinet source. The insider told The Sun: “February 27 is high noon. This is the line Amber, David and Greg are drawing in the sand, and they will make that clear closer to the time. No deal must be taken off the table then.” Ms Cooper insisted the amendment was “a Parliamentary safeguard to prevent us drifting into no deal by accident”, adding that it would “prevent those crucial decisions being left until the final fortnight”. It comes after Mrs May called on MPs to “hold their nerve” as she works to secure last-minute concessions from Brussels to win support for her Brexit deal. – Express May could win over Labour MPs to back her Brexit deal by making it easier for unions to go on strike… Theresa May is being urged to rip up the Trade Union Act and allow fast-track strike votes to win Labour MPs’ support for her Brexit deal. Union bosses are demanding the Government drop all opposition to the e-balloting of their members – something the Tories have bitterly opposed for three years. Downing Street is understood to be considering the request, one source said. It comes as ministers continue to thrash out a workers right package with the TUC and Unite chief Len McCluskey as well as over a dozen of Labour MPs in the bid to win wider support for Theresa May’s Brexit deal. On Tuesday the PM signalled she was preparing to offer other concessions such as rules on agency workers. These include repealing the so-called Swedish derogation, which allows employers to pay their agency workers less. Speaking in the Commons she said: “We are committed to enforcing holiday pay for the most vulnerable workers. Not just protecting workers’ rights, but extending them.” – The Sun …and offering cash for their constituencies Theresa May is pressing Philip Hammond to find new cash for a “national renewal fund”, which critics claim amounts to a bribe for Labour MPs to back her Brexit deal. Downing Street and the Treasury are in talks about the scale of the funding for deprived areas and the timing of its announcement. Mrs May wants the fund to be announced before her second attempt to pass her deal, for which she needs at least 20 Labour votes. The size of the proposed fund has never been publicly discussed but the Labour MPs involved point to the £1 billion for Northern Ireland that was negotiated by the Democratic Unionist Party in return for its ten MPs backing the Conservatives at Westminster. It is understood that Mr Hammond claimed that money would have to be diverted from existing allocations. However, the prime minister is pressing for new money to be made available. – The Times (£) Labour frontbenchers warn Corbyn they will quit if he doesn’t back a second referendum… Jeremy Corbyn faces up to 10 resignations from the Labour frontbench if he fails to throw his party’s weight behind a fresh attempt to force Theresa May to submit her Brexit deal to a referendum in a fortnight’s time, frustrated MPs are warning. With tension mounting among anti-Brexit Labour MPs and grassroots members, several junior shadow ministers have told the Guardian they are prepared to resign their posts if Corbyn doesn’t whip his MPs to vote for a pro-referendum amendment at the end of the month. Corbyn has been struggling to balance the conflicting forces in his party over Brexit, as the clock ticks down towards exit day on 29 March. Many party members and MPs would like him to take a lead in seeking to block Brexit before time runs out – but some frontbenchers are equally adamant they could never support a referendum. – Guardian Jeremy Corbyn faces bitter Shadow Cabinet rift unless he backs People’s Vote by March – The Sun Labour centrists prepare to form breakaway party – FT (£) …but Len McCluskey warns that a second Brexit vote would ‘threaten the UK’s democracy’ A second Brexit referendum could “threaten the UK’s democratic fabric” according to Len McCluskey, general secretary of the Unite trade union and a key Jeremy Corbyn ally. The powerful trade unionist made the claim on the ITV Peston politics show. Mr McCluskey argued another public vote, with remaining in the EU as an option, isn’t “the best option for our nation”. Back in 2016 the union leader backed Britain remaining in the EU. Speaking to ITV host Robert Peston Mr McCluskey commented: “My view is having had a 2016 referendum where the people have voted to come out of the European Union, to try and deflect away from that threatens the whole democratic fabric on which we operate. My union’s position is fairly clear. We have a union policy that first of all recognises and respects the 2016 referendum. We in Unite put more money and resources in campaigning for a remain vote, but we lost and you have to accept the democratic decision of a referendum.” Instead Mr McCluskey, a fervent Labour Party supporter, called for a General Election. – Express Forcing a general election is now ‘unlikely’, admits John McDonnell… Labour’s chances of forcing a general election to renegotiate Brexit are now “unlikely,” the party’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Wednesday. The remarks, in a live Politico London Playbook interview Wednesday, suggest the opposition party is inching toward a compromise Brexit deal with the government — or a second referendum. McDonnell said he agreed with the party’s shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer who said pushing for a general election was no longer a “credible option.” Starmer’s intervention sparked a sharp response from Jeremy Corbyn’s office, which insisted an early election remained the party’s “preferred option.” Asked whether Starmer was right, McDonnell replied: “We’re still in the hope of a general election, but it’s unlikely, so, yeah, I think [he is].” McDonnell’s remark suggests Labour’s options are narrowing as the clock ticks down to March 29, the scheduled date for Britain’s departure from the European Union. Speaking to London Playbook editor Jack Blanchard, McDonnell said Theresa May was “floundering” and predicted parliament would soon take control of the process, forcing a softer Brexit on the government before voting it through before March 29. – Politico …while Sir Keir Starmer agrees the party’s general election plan is no longer credible Labour splits on Brexit have been laid bare once more after Sir Keir Starmer appeared to suggest that pushing for a general election was no longer a “credible option” for the party to pursue. The Shadow Brexit Secretary said the party was now only pursuing two alternatives – a compromise deal based on proposals contained in a letter from Jeremy Corbyn to Theresa May last week, or a second referendum. But he was slapped down by Jeremy Corbyn’s office, which insisted pressing for an early election remained the party’s “preferred option”. – PoliticsHome EU officials suggest UK is only ‘pretending to negotiate’ over Brexit impasse The British government is “pretending to negotiate” with the European Union and has not presented any new proposals to break the Brexit deadlock, according to EU officials. Theresa May’s de-facto deputy, David Lidington, and the Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay, met senior EU officials and MEPs in Brussels and Strasbourg this week, but the talks yielded no obvious results. The British side thinks a crucial process has begun and hopes progress will have been made by 27 February when MPs are expected to have another crunch Brexit vote. However, on Wednesday night European council president Donald Tusk said the EU27 was still waiting for proposals. “No news is not always good news,” he tweeted, after meeting with the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier. “EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break Brexit impasse,” Tusk said. Barnier, has said current talks with the UK do not even qualify as negotiations. In a call on Tuesday morning with Guy Verhofstadt, chief Brexit representative for the European parliament, Barnier said there were “no negotiations” with the British. – Guardian John Longworth: Does Olly Robbins’ hotel bar blunder hint at an anti-Brexit conspiracy? It is almost as if the majority of our commentariat and MPs have Stockholm Syndrome; they have been captured by No 10 spin and don’t want to believe anything else. In fairness, most curious occurrences tend to be “cock up” rather than conspiracy, but sometimes it is just that – conspiracy. The history books are littered with devious activity by politicians and Whitehall, so it must happen. The remarks Olly Robbins, the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator, is alleged to have made in a bar in Brussels raise the very question of this dichotomy between accident and design. In fact, they raise a series of questions which, in normal times would be poured over at length. But these are not normal times and the previously unconscionable is becoming acceptable behaviour by the Government. Firstly, how is it that the most senior civil servant involved in a matter of the utmost state importance has not been taken to task for discussing policy in a public bar? Who exactly is running the country: the Prime Minister or Whitehall Mandarins? – John Longworth for the Telegraph (£) Jim Ratcliffe: Why no-one in the chemicals industry is seriously investing in Europe Europe, not so long ago the world leader in chemicals, has seen its market share in the last decade alone collapse from 30% world market share to 15%. This is an industry that employs over 1 million people in high quality jobs in Europe and five times that in indirect jobs. Worldwide, chemicals is an immense industry, considerably bigger than the automotive sector with revenues approaching $4 trillion. Europe is no longer competitive. It has the world’s most expensive energy and labour laws that are uninviting for employers. Worst of all, it has green taxes that, at best, can be described as foolish as they are having the opposite effect to how they were intended. Europe going it alone with green taxes prevents renewal as it frightens away investment into the open arms of the USA and China. It also pushes manufacturing to other parts of the world that care less for the environment. – Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman of INEOS Andrew Lillico: What’s really behind Mark Carney’s about-turn on Brexit? Mark Carney’s speech at the Barbican on February 12 has triggered some debate over what precisely he meant. Coverage in the eurosceptic press has focused on some remarks at the very end of the speech which have been fairly widely interpreted as a shift to a more positive note on the possibilities of Brexit. The Financial Times, which had hosted his speech, went instead with “Mark Carney warns on Brexit, global trade risks”. The speech wasn’t really about Brexit as such. Other than the last two paragraphs, Carney only mentioned it twice — both times in passing. He was mainly talking about the outlook for trade and the global economy and the risks that we are about to see a worldwide slowdown triggered by the financial cycle (with a reversion to some of the debt-raising practices seen in the run-up to the Great Recession), a slowdown in China (he said a 3 per cent drop in Chinese GDP would take 1 per cent off global GDP including half a percent off UK GDP), or either a failure or rejection of globalisation. – Andrew Lillico for the Telegraph (£) Larry Elliott: Carney is right. Brexit could lead to a better, fairer kind of globalisation It all seemed so simple back in the 1990s. Barriers were coming down, the free market was advancing to all corners of the world, and in return for production being shifted to low-cost countries, consumers in the west were getting cheaper clothes and gizmos. Globalisation was said to be unstoppable. The end of history was nigh. The financial crisis and its aftermath have changed the political weather, with a decade of low growth, unevenly distributed pain and business as usual prompting a backlash. Voters in the west have started to focus on globalisation’s dark side: the multinational companies that avoid paying tax; the towns hollowed out by de-industrialisation; the loss of democratic control over market forces; the uneasy sense that the entire edifice is poised precariously on a mountain of debt. – Guardian Rod Liddle: I predict a Brexit but without the actual ‘exit’… the deal before us isn’t really leaving the EU at all Do you remember the morning of June 24, 2016? A lovely morning. We had just voted to leave the European Union. And amid all the euphoria, I remember saying to my wife: “They won’t let it happen. Somehow, they’ll stop it.” I don’t think I was alone in reckoning that. It’s looking very much like that at the moment, isn’t it? We’re 43 days away from deadline time, March 29. But what do you reckon the likelihood is of the deadline being put back? I’ll bet it is. Olly Robbins thinks it’s likely. He’s a civil servant and the Prime Minister’s chief negotiator to the EU. He was overheard jabbering about the whole business in a bar in Brussels. And he said if there WERE a delay, it would most likely be a long one. We’ll probably all be here this time next year, then, in exactly the same position. By which time the deal will be so watered down, the whole point will have been lost. It’s pretty close to that stage right now. Why has this happened? Because our establishment do not want us to leave. And while they may pay lip service to “respecting the voice of the people”, they don’t remotely mean it. They never did. – Rod Liddle for The Sun Allister Heath: The eurozone’s coming recession will confirm Brexiteers’ warnings Remind me: what’s so great about the single market and the single currency again? The latest economic statistics from the eurozone are appalling, and point to a continent that is sleepwalking into a catastrophic recession. Our own establishment is too busy self-flagellating to have noticed, even though a eurozone meltdown would not only hurt British businesses and workers but could transform the Brexit negotiations. Like the eurozone crisis which destroyed Greece and crippled Cyprus and Italy, this sudden economic storm could change everything. That earlier episode, a near-death experience for the euro, was a seminal moment in the rise of British Euroscepticism. It mattered almost as much as the migration crisis, a point that few Remainers understand because they cannot accept that Brexiteers care about economics, not just sovereignty. To Eurosceptics, the quasi-bankruptcy of the Club Med economies in the mid-2010s was the final confirmation that the EU was no longer a land of milk and honey, as it had appeared to be in the 1970s and early 1980s, but an economic basket case with terrifyingly authoritarian tendencies. The French Trentes Glorieuses, the Wirtschaftswunder in Germany and the Auf Wiedersehn, Pet phenomenon – when British workers moved to Europe for employment: all belong to a distant past. – Allister Heath for the Telegraph (£) Walter Russell Mead: Incredible shrinking Europe Last week offered fresh evidence that the most consequential historical shift of the last 100 years continues: the decline of Europe as a force in world affairs. As Deutsche Bank warned of a German recession, the European Commission cut the 2019 eurozone growth forecast from an already anemic 1.9% to 1.3%. Economic output in the eurozone was lower in 2017 than it was in 2009; over that same period, gross domestic product grew 139% in China, 96% in India, and 34% in the U.S., according to the World Bank. – Walter Russell Mead for the Wall Street Journal Brxit in Brief Tory backbenchers’ cunning plan for a soft Brexit deal by mid-April – Robert Peston for ITV News Is Mark Carney now supporting Brexit? – Ben Chapman for the Independent (£) Global Britain can lead the world in confronting the dark side of big tech – Ben Scott for the Telegraph (£) Would No Deal lead to Irish unification? – David Shiels for ConservativeHome Firms demand EU caves in and ends UK no-deal uncertainty – Express Northern Ireland not same as rest of UK, says Bertie Ahern – Belfast Telegraph