Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team House of Commons passes motion demanding Government publish Brexit impact studies without a vote… Ministers have come under fresh pressure to release a series of Brexit impact studies, in a Commons debate. Some Conservative MPs joined Labour in calling for the 58 documents, which focus on different sectors of the economy, to be published. Labour is seeking to use an arcane parliamentary procedure to force the government’s hand. The government did not contest the motion and earlier said there was an “obligation” not to publish the papers. After the motion was carried unanimously, Commons Speaker John Bercow said: “It is sensible for us, the House, to wait for the government’s response and if I receive a representation I will reflect upon it”. – BBC News There was no official division as only Labour MPs backed it and no Conservative MPs objected. Speaker John Bercow said he “expects” the Government to respect the decision – despite confusion over whether the result is binding. Opposition Day debate motions are traditionally non-binding, but Labour had tabled a special “Humble Address” motion. It is a centuries-old and infrequently used procedure that asks the Queen directly to request documents from the Government. Mr Bercow had only advised: “Motions of this kind have in the past been seen as effective or binding.” He warned ministers could be in “contempt” of Parliament if they ignore the call. – Sky News …with ministers intimating that the papers would be published in some form… Having initially said they would stand firm and refuse to publish the documents, ministers later suggested they would be published in some form… Tory MPs were instructed to abstain in the debate amid fears that enough rebel MPs would side with Labour to inflict a humiliating defeat on the government… Steve Baker the Brexit minister, told MPs: “The government recognises that parliament has rights relating to the publication of documents. But ministers also have a clear obligation not to disclose information when doing so would not be in the public interest. We will reflect on the outcome of this debate having regard to parliament’s rights in relation to these documents.” – The Times (£) Government may bow to pressure to release Brexit impact studies – Guardian Tory MP Sarah Wollaston urges government to publish Brexit impact papers – Guardian Redacted versions may still not be published for three months – FT (£) The government’s Brexit studies must be published without delay – Times leader (£) …as the Queen is reportedly ‘not happy’ at being dragged by Labour into the row Humble Addresses are binding on the Government and are normally are used to debate non-controversial topics such as welcoming the Queen’s diamond jubilee, and not for airing contentious political issues… One senior Government source said: “The Palace is not happy. It risks dragging the crown into political issues. It is a concern. The Crown has to respond. There are concerns at the Palace about using a procedure to address non-controversial issues in a controversial way.” Last night Buckingham Palace made clear that the Queen would not get involved in the process of Brexit. A Palace spokesman told The Telegraph: “Parliamentary procedures are a matter for Parliament.” – Telegraph (£) Liam Fox says EU must talk trade before UK will agree Brexit bill… The European Union is being “unreasonable” by demanding Britain sign up to pay a Brexit bill before allowing talks to move on to discuss the future commercial accord, U.K. Trade Secretary Liam Fox said. He blamed the other 27 EU countries for delaying the progress in the negotiations and warned that continuing hold-ups will make it more difficult to reach a trade deal in time for Brexit day in March 2019. Talks are stalled because the EU wants the U.K. to detail what it will pay as it leaves the bloc. “The idea that the United Kingdom would actually agree to a sum of money before we knew what the end state looked like, or what any future potential was, I think is a non starter,” Fox told a panel of lawmakers in London on Wednesday. “Show us what the end state looks like and we can then talk about the financial disaggregation.” – Bloomberg Liam Fox wants EU deal but ‘not afraid’ of not getting one – BBC News German media reports £44bn as EU’s latest Brexit bill demand – Express …as he urges the public not to be afraid of chlorinated chicken imported from the US after Brexit… “There are no health reasons why you couldn’t eat chicken that had been washed in chlorinated water,” Dr Fox said. “Most of the salads in our supermarkets are rinsed in chlorinated water. In terms of reduction of campylobacter bacteria food poisoning, the US has – in general – much lower levels of campylobacter food poisoning than most countries in Europe.” He added: “I have no objection to the British public being sold anything that is safe as long as they know what they are eating. I’m a great believer in giving the British public the choice over what they eat and as long as scientists tell us it’s safe, then I think that should be our guiding principle.” Pressed on whether UK tourists should avoid eating chicken when they travel to the US, Dr Fox replied: “No.” – Sky News Liam Fox reopens Cabinet rift with Michael Gove over chlorinated chicken – Telegraph (£) Michael Gove backs calls for independent post-Brexit environment regulator – FT (£) …while Boris Johnson confirms Britain is boosting its diplomatic presence in Europe Johnson also confirmed that the U.K. has created 50 new diplomatic posts in European capitals to “beef up” bilateral relations with EU member states as the country leaves the bloc. Johnson said the U.K. had previously neglected relationships with individual countries and “tended to put all our eggs in the Brussels basket.” But he declined to set out whether the U.K. would seek to remain “in the room” of EU foreign policy decision-making by requesting membership or observer status of the EU’s political and security committee — a proposal backed by former Foreign Secretary William Hague. – Politico Brexit blockbuster: 6 things we learned from UK committees – Politico BMW executive says car maker’s British-based operations will remain crucial after Brexit A top executive from motoring giant BMW has given a vote of confidence in post-Brexit Britain. The senior director from the German manufacturer, whose brands also include Mini and Rolls Royce, suggested its British-based operations would remain crucial after our split with the EU, as will its trade with us. The firm currently sells more than a quarter of a million cars a year in the UK – and a relationship with one of its most lucrative markets will continue long after it has left the European Union, said BMW’s global sales and marketing director Dr Ian Robertson… ‘The UK is the fourth largest market in the world for the premium cars. Is that going to change? I don’t think so.’ Dr Robertson said he did not see Brexit posing a threat to BMW’s three manufacturing bases in the UK – the Mini plant in Oxford, the Rolls-Royce ’boutique’ factory in Chichester, Sussex, and the Hams Hall engine plant in the Midlands. – Daily Mail New Brexit referendum would be ‘divisive and hate-filled’, warns Lord Hague… Holding another referendum on Brexit would be the most “divisive” moment in British politics for more than 100 years, Lord Hague has said. The former foreign secretary warned of the risk of a “hate-filled” campaign if the government attempted to revisit the issue and tell people “they were wrong” when voting to leave in 2016. He said he would be “more likely” to vote leave if there was another poll. “You can’t go around in circles. We have to stick to the decision.” …”Imagine going back to the people of this country and saying ‘you got this wrong in the referendum, you may have turned out in record numbers and most of the country voted to leave but nevertheless we think you got it wrong and we are going to run it again’. Imagine the hate-filled campaign that would divide this country. I do not think that is a price worth paying.” – BBC News …as arch-Remainer Lord Adonis claims Britain can stop Brexit ‘whenever it likes’ following Barnier meeting A Labour peer has suggested that EU officials told him Britain can stop the Brexit process “whenever it likes” before the end of March 2019. Lord Adonis claimed it was “clear” the UK could yet stay in the EU, despite having triggered Article 50 – the legal mechanism for leaving the bloc. The former Cabinet minister joined ex-deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and senior Tory MP Ken Clarke in Brussels earlier this week, where the pro-Remain trio held talks with EU lead Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and other senior figures. – Sky News Remainer trio admit plotting with EU chiefs on how they can reverse Brexit – Express Remourners like me need to get over Brexit – Walter Ellis for Reaction Tim Martin tells politicians to “stop messing about” with Brexit in Wetherspoons beer mat manifesto Tim Martin, boss of cheap-and-cheerful pub chain JD Wetherspoon Plc and an outspoken supporter of the U.K.’s departure from the European Union, has turned his attention from getting any Brexit to getting the right Brexit… The message, printed on 500,000 mats, calls on the leaders of the U.K.’s three main political parties to “stop messing about” and endorse the company’s “three-point manifesto.” The new coasters urge the government to… Unilaterally grant citizenship rights to legal EU immigrants… Eliminate taxes on food imported from outside the EU, while ensuring that food imports from the EU into the U.K. also continue to be tax-free from 2019… Stop paying 200 million pounds ($266 million) per week into “EU coffers”. – Bloomberg Wetherspoon launches its own Brexit manifesto – on a beer mat of course – Daily Mirror Daniel Korski and Syed Kamall: A digital Brexit will spur us to rethink the nature of the state We were on opposite sides of the EU debate, but we both now believe that, whatever the EU strategy, it is critical to turn the external process into an opportunity for domestic transformation. In particular, we believe that Brexit allows us rethink the nature of the British state, rebooting the delivery of public services through new technologies and new models of governance. And we believe the government needs to focus on this with much greater urgency. Few countries get to rewire themselves to the degree now afforded to the UK by virtue of Brexit. Rebooting a country does not happen often or easily… Historically, however, British pragmatism has meant a preference – and openness – to continual reform, but a dislike of abrupt and dramatic change. That now needs to change… Realising that the technologically transformative potential of Brexit is critical to the UK’s long term prosperity. – Daniel Korski and Syed Kamall MEP for City A.M. James Arnell: Ensuring a competitive, outward-looking UK on Day One of Brexit If we are leaving the EU with no deal, we are going to have to work very, very hard to retain companies and their activities in the UK. That means a low corporate tax rate. The Government prides itself on its flagship policy of reduction of corporate tax rates in recent years, and rightly so, but it should consider going even further and it should also consider much more aggressive tax breaks for research, to support export efforts and to encourage capital investment to drive productivity. Brexit can be used as a reason to be bold. A tax holiday may be part of that. In the immediate lead-up to and aftermath of Brexit, companies will be doing a lot of work against a backdrop of continued uncertainty. They may decide to relocate activities out of an excess of caution. Would a temporary reduction in Corporation Tax encourage them to retain their activities here, giving them time to work through the complexities and decide to remain in the UK after all? – James Arnell for ConservativeHome Graeme Leach: The five economic freedoms that Britain can win by leaving the EU The five economic freedoms provided by Brexit are: freedom from the EU protectionist fortress, freedom from EU budget payments, freedom from uncontrolled EU migration, freedom from EU product market regulation, and freedom from EU labour market regulation. These are giants walking our land, but they walk unseen. If asked about the EU, focus groups show people associate the bloc with free trade, not protectionism. They have little or no idea that they live within a protectionist fortress with tall and thick walls to the outside world. The best example of this is in the reaction to the fall in sterling post-Brexit. People associate Brexit with higher prices (from higher import costs). They do not realise that being outside the Common External Tariff will lower prices if we pursue genuinely free trade. The weekly shop at the supermarket will become a whole lot cheaper. Forget “that’s Asda price” – remember “that’s Brexit price”. – Graeme Leach for City A.M. Sebastian Payne: How the City can survive Brexit The conundrum is balancing market access with regulation. The government is unlikely to accept any ongoing arrangement where the UK is a rule taker, not a rulemaker. A standstill transition agreement may see that occur temporarily, but it is not practically or politically sustainable in the longer term. What is to be done? Howard Davies, chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, argues in a crunchy opinion piece that a committee of “wise men” urgently needs to be formed to find a bespoke solution that will go some way to meeting the needs of both parties. New regulatory arrangements need to be put in place, given that all sides recognise that London will remain core to the European capital markets for a long time to come. – Sebastian Payne for the FT (£) Post-Brexit financial regulation cannot be left to negotiators – Howard Davies for the FT (£) BoE calls for Brexit withdrawal bill to address cross-border financial contracts – FT (£) City could lose 10,000 jobs on day of Brexit, claims Bank of England deputy governor – Guardian British banks to rake in £270m profit boost from Bank of England rate hike – City A.M. If the City can’t replace 75,000 jobs, it has bigger problems than Brexit – Matthew Lynn for the Spectator What the City needs to know about the EU’s Mifid II legislation – Lucy White for City A.M. Jeremy Warner: As a haven of sensible regulation, the City might even gain from Brexit The cleverer operators are already looking through the legal and economic quagmire of Brexit to the more conducive regulatory environment for international capital that could lie beyond, given the political will. A case in point is the European Union’s so-called Solvency II Directive, the subject last week of a deeply critical report by the UK parliamentary Treasury Select Committee. Brexit provides the opportunity to reform this 3,200 page piece of regulatory gobbledegook in a manner which puts the competitiveness of the UK insurance industry first, rather than the misguided and destructive notions of consumer and systemic safety the directive is intended to give teeth to. – Jeremy Warner for the Telegraph (£) > Charlie Elphicke MP yesterday on BrexitCentral: The Bank of England’s latest Brexit warning is Project Fear all over again Brexit comment in brief The truth about the 10 biggest Brexit myths (of the moment) – Ian Wishart for Bloomberg What young Britons really think about Brexit and their prospects outside the EU – Avril Keating for Reaction Beware the Tory cult that’s steering Brexit – Simon Kuper for the FT (£) Europe’s choice — French ambition or German bean-counting – Philip Stephens for the FT (£) There’s nothing the EU can do about the situation in Spain – here’s why – Allan Massie for Reaction Madrid on Catalonia: We got this – Diego Torres for Politico Brexit news in brief FT editor: My job is to pour scorn on Brexit – Guido Fawkes Car industry asks May for ‘urgent clarity’ on Brexit – FT (£) Brexit is to blame’: watchdog tells borrowers trapped on high mortgage rates – Telegraph Investigation launched into Leave.EU funder Arron Banks – Sky News Government prepares to impose budget on Northern Ireland – Politico EU braced for civil war? Brussels chief orders problem states to comply or lose funding – Express Separatist leader Carles Puigdemont faces extradition to Spain with European Arrest Warrant – The Times (£)