Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Theresa May has a week to save her Brexit deal before the Commons takes control… Theresa May is preparing a last-gasp push to get her deal through the Commons if MPs vote to seize control of the Brexit timetable next week. The prime minister privately accepts that she is powerless to prevent legislation removing the immediate threat of a no-deal exit proposed by Yvette Cooper of Labour. Downing Street has identified a week between MPs backing the measure in principle on Tuesday and the legislation being introduced on February 5 and intends to confront Brexiteers with a choice between voting for her deal or facing an all-but certain delay. Mrs May refuses to accept that Ms Cooper’s amendment is legally binding but allies acknowledge that it differs from others due to be debated on January 29. “There is a difference in kind from the other amendments and Cooper’s,” an ally said. “The first are expressions of parliamentary will which, in theory, she could ignore. But Cooper is proposing legislation. If that passes there is nothing we can do. It’s massively unhelpful. We’d have a week to try to persuade the Commons not to back the bill or Brexit would be delayed and the pressure would come off the EU.” – The Times (£) > Patrick O’Flynn MEP on BrexitCentral today: The Tories can either deliver Brexit and benefit politically or delay it and never be trusted again …as Labour plots to delay Brexit… The prospect of Brexit being delayed moved a step closer last night after Jeremy Corbyn signalled Labour will join Remain Tory ministers and MPs in blocking no deal. Mr Corbyn is expected to give his support to a backbench bill that will force the Government to request an extension of Article 50 after meeting its backers. The Telegraph has learned an alliance of 19 Tory ministers, including five members of the Cabinet, has also been holding secret meetings to discuss plans to stop a no-deal Brexit. Several of them are prepared to quit over the issue. In a bid to save her deal Theresa May is now considering plans to withhold part of the £39billion Brexit divorce bill to ensure that Britain does not become permanently trapped in the Northern Ireland backstop. The plan, which is one of nine options for breaking the deadlock sent to the Prime Minister by her chief Brexit negotiator on Sunday, is designed to win over Tory Eurosceptics and trump the rebel’s bid to extend Article 50. – Telegraph (£) Labour ready to whip MPs to back Cooper’s no-deal amendment – Guardian > Brendan Chilton on BrexitCentral last week: Jeremy Corbyn is wrong to rule out No Deal and risks keeping Labour out of power for another generation …and MPs moot request for three-month extension to Article 50 Brexit could be delayed by three months under new plans being drafted to break the deadlock in parliament, HuffPost UK has learned. Under the cross-party move, the current legal deadline for quitting the EU would be postponed from March 29 to June 30. Labour MP Yvette Cooper, who has teamed up with Tory Nick Boles to avoid a no-deal exit, will be urged by senior Labour figures and others to replace her current plan for a nine-month delay and adopt a shorter period instead. One key reason for the June 30 date is that it would avoid a potential political headache caused by the new European Parliament sitting on July 2. Britain has no plans to take part in the Euro elections but if the UK remains in the EU after July, it would in theory still be paying money to Brussels without any democratic representation in the form of MEPs. Jeremy Corbyn met Cooper and fellow MP Rachel Reeves on Wednesday in a bid to forge a common plan that would ensure Labour’s official backing for their amendments. – Huffington Post Article 50 extension is not a Brexit solution, May tells MPs… Theresa May has warned MPs that moves to prevent the UK crashing out of the EU will “not solve the issue” or rule out a no-deal Brexit in the future. Senior backbenchers have drawn up parliamentary legislation that seeks to extend Article 50 and prevent the UK leaving the EU without an agreement if the prime minister’s revised deal is rejected by MPs. Speaking at prime minister’s questions, Mrs May said: “What we have seen is amendments seeking to engineer a situation where Article 50 is extended — that does not solve the issue, there will always be a point of decision. The decision remains the same: no deal, a deal or no Brexit. Extending Article 50, I don’t believe, resolves any issues because at some point members of this House have to decide whether they want to have a no-deal situation, agree a deal or have no Brexit,” she added. – FT (£) > WATCH: Theresa May tells Andrew Rosindell the Article 50 process finishes on 29th March 2019 …while Sir Keir Starmer hopes No Deal to be ‘effectively removed’ by Brexit amendments Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out no-deal if a deal cannot be passed on Tuesday’s crunch vote. When speaking to ITV’s Peston on when it will become critical for party policy to move to supporting a People’s Vote, the shadow Brexit secretary said: “There isn’t much time left. Next Tuesday there is a whole raft of amendments, I think the most important thing to happen next Tuesday for parliament if it can is to effectively remove no-deal as a possible outcome and to do that from one of the amendments – either by Yvette Cooper’s or another amendment.” In this scenario, Mr Starmer accepts that extending Article 50 and delaying Brexit could be a viable option. “It’s relatively simple to extend until 1 July because of the European elections and incoming MEPs do not take up their functions until 2 July. It is more difficult and legally complicated to do it for longer than that”, he said. “As to how long the extension should be, there is room for discussion and argument. I don’t think people are fixated by the date – what people are saying is they recognise the difficulties beyond 1 July.” – ITV News How 19 Remain ministers dubbed ‘hairshirt club’ have met in secret in bid to stop no-deal Brexit Nearly 20 ministers have been secretly meeting in Parliament to discuss plans to stop a no-deal Brexit, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. The group of ministers, which includes five members of the Cabinet, has held discussions on the best way to avoid the economic damage of a no deal Brexit. One member of the group jokingly referred to it as the “hairshirt club” because there is no “pizza or alcohol” at the meetings. The group last met on Tuesday last week for discussions on an amendment tabled by Yvette Cooper, a senior Labour MP, to take no deal off the table by extending Article 50. Cabinet ministers who attended Amber Rudd, the Work and Pensions Secretary, Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, Greg Clark, the Work and Pensions Secretary, David Gauke the Justice Secretary, and Claire Perry, the energy minister. The 14 ministers include two from Ms Rudd’s Department for Work and Pensions and two from Mr Clark’s department. It comes after Ms Rudd warned the Prime Minister that as many 40 members of the Government could quit if they are forced to vote against Ms Cooper’s amendment on Tuesday next week. – Telegraph (£) 19 Remain ministers meeting in secret to discuss how to stop no deal – Express Liam Fox hits out at MPs seeking to block no-deal Brexit UK trade secretary Liam Fox has hit back at MPs seeking to block a no-deal Brexit, saying that they pose a “real danger” to the British constitution. A cross-party group of MPs is backing a parliamentary manoeuvre that would give parliament the right to request an extension to Brexit talks, if no deal has been agreed by the end of February. Mr Fox said on Wednesday that their proposal — which would give backbench MPs control over the House of Commons agenda — would “involve a huge change to our constitution. The danger here is that you change our constitutional conventions for one reason but it has huge consequences elsewhere,” he told the BBC’s Today programme. The trade secretary, who is struggling to roll over EU trade agreements as promised in 2017, will tell business leaders gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos that a no-deal Brexit on March 29 “remains a real possibility”. – FT (£) > LISTEN: Dr Liam Fox MP on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme The Irish backstop remains the major obstacle to backing May’s deal, says Jacob Rees-Mogg… Jacob Rees-Mogg softened his opposition to Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement as he said there had been “outbreaks of realism” among Conservative Brexiteers. The chairman of the European Research Group of Tory Eurosceptic MPs signalled the Irish border backstop issue was now the only major obstacle standing in the way of supporting the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal. The ERG has previously cited the £39billion Brexit bill and the prospect of the UK remaining under the jurisdiction of European courts as reasons why it could not support the deal. But Mr Rees-Mogg said on Wednesday that “overwhelmingly the biggest problem is the backstop”. The remark is likely to boost hopes inside Downing Street of salvaging Mrs May’s deal which was crushed by MPs when it was put to a vote earlier this month. However, Mr Rees-Mogg, the MP for North East Somerset, made clear that he and the ERG would only back Mrs May if she managed to secure a legally binding change to the backstop. – Telegraph (£) > WATCH: Jacob Rees-Mogg’s speech to the Bruges Group yesterday …who urges May to shut down Parliament if MPs try to thwart Brexit Jacob Rees-Mogg has told Theresa May she must use the nuclear option of ending the parliamentary session early if a bid by MPs to delay Brexit looks likely to succeed. The leading Brexiteer said the Prime Minister should prorogue Parliament if a plan being led by Yvette Cooper, the Labour MP, to extend Article 50 gets close to becoming law. Prorogation would mean the end of the parliamentary session and therefore all draft laws currently making their way through the Commons and Lords would fall. Ms Cooper has tabled a draft bill which would force the Government to delay Brexit by nine months beyond March 29 if no deal has been agreed by February 26. Mr Rees-Mogg said the Government would have to stop the passage of such a bill and that it would have to use any and all constitutional methods to do so. He said: “If no deal were taken off the table her majesty’s government would have had to have connived in doing it. It cannot be done if the Government is determined to stop it. I referred to extraordinary constitutional situations.” – Telegraph (£) Ask the Queen to suspend parliament, Rees-Mogg urges May – The Times (£) Brussels backtracks on threats of a hard border in Ireland under no-deal Brexit… Brussels yesterday backtracked on threats of a Hard Border in Ireland – saying “new ways” could be found to carry out customs checks. The EU’s Brexit chief negotiator Michel Barnier performed a screeching U-turn and vowed the EU would look at ways to check goods away from the frontier. The comments were seized upon by Tory Eurosceptics who have argued for months that technology could be used to avoid a Hard Border. Mr Barnier said: “If we’re facing a no deal…we’ll have to find an operational way of carrying out checks and controls without putting back in place a border.” His remarks came just 24 hours after the Commission’s chief spokesman had said it was “obvious” no deal could lead to a hard border. Mr Barnier also said Parliament had to prove there was a “stable majority” for a closer future relationship before Brussels would agree to extend the Article 50 negotiating deadline beyond March 29. It was separately claimed Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has warned aides that the Republic may have to accept its border checks being carried out in Calais or Holland. He has told opposition leaders Ireland would have to be treated “as one bloc” with the UK by the EU to avoid a Hard Border. – The Sun …as Ireland hires 400 new customs officials for that contingency… Ireland will have 400 new customs officers in place by the end of March as it rushes to put no-deal measures in place to keep trade moving with Great Britain, according to an unpublished document from the Irish tax authority. Niall Cody, the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, will reveal the scale of no-deal contingency operations for the first time on Thursday, warning of the adverse impact for 70,000 Irish small to medium-sized businesses that trade with the UK. “We have accelerated and expanded our recruitment and training schedules to meet the end of March deadline [for Brexit],” he will tell a parliamentary committee. But the Republic says it will not be putting any customs posts on the border with Northern Ireland. “The government has made clear that the overriding objective is to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. Revenue is not planning for customs post,” Cody will say. “The government has indicated that in the event of no deal, it will engage in intensive discussions with the EU commission and our EU partners will provide whatever technical expertise and assistance may be required during this process.” – Guardian …as Ireland faces possibility of its border moving to the continent Ireland could be isolated with Britain in a worst-case no-deal Brexit, with a customs hard border erected in Calais or Rotterdam instead of along the Irish border. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told opposition party leaders of the “risk” that border checks could be operated in France or the Netherlands just hours after the European Commission warned a hard border is the “obvious” consequence of a no-deal Brexit. In a private meeting with party leaders last night, Mr Varadkar and his department secretary general John Callinan said unless the Irish question is resolved, the EU could hypothetically move control of any border away from Ireland and onto the continent. Such a scenario would remove the need for a hard border between the Republic and the North. However, it would also mean Ireland and the UK would be treated as one bloc, several sources at the meeting told the Irish Examiner, which must be “avoided at all costs”. Mr Callinan said technical EU rules could apply which require it to protect its outer reaches. One source said: “The risk is restrictions could be imposed in Calais or Rotterdam as they [EU] would not trust us. It would be if the UK was bringing in chlorinated chicken or the likes into Ireland.” – Irish Examiner EU floats ‘Irish’ method of reversing Brexit – Telegraph (£) EU will never accept Theresa May’s Brexit ‘plan-B’, says Michel Barnier… The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator has ruled out ever accepting Theresa May’s Brexit ‘plan-B’, in a major blow to the prime minister’s bid to get MPs to back her plan. Michel Barnier said repeated requests for a time limit on the controversial backstop had already been discussed and rejected twice by EU leaders. But he also signalled there could be a way to avoid a hard border in Ireland in the event of a no deal, telling an EU committee on Wednesday: “We will have to find an operational way of carrying out checks and controls without putting back in place a border.” In a separate joint interview with continental newspapers Mr Barnier said “we cannot tie the backstop to a time limit” as suggested by the prime minister. He said the withdrawal agreement on the table was “the only possible option” for Britain and also ruled out the possibility of a so-called “managed no deal” as advocated by some Tory Brexiteers. “In the case of no deal, action will of course be taken to ensure that planes can land but … the ‘no deal’ cannot be a sum of mini-deals and be a situation of ‘business as usual’,” he told Le Monde, Rzeczpospolita and Luxemburger Wort. – Independent …as the Prime Minister meets trade union leaders today Trade union leaders are holding top-level Brexit talks with the Government as Theresa May seeks to keep her grip on the EU withdrawal agenda. In an unusual move, union chiefs will attend Whitehall discussions on Thursday, which are expected to involve the Prime Minister. TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady, Len McCluskey of Unite, Dave Prentis of Unison and Tim Roache of the GMB, will all hold separate meetings with ministers. The discussions are part of Mrs May’s bid to try and get widespread political backing in finding a Brexit agenda that would command a majority in the Commons after her plans were heavily rejected by MPs. The Government move comes as there appeared to be growing support in Labour ranks for a parliamentary bid by former minister Yvette Cooper to extend Article 50, which would keep the UK in the EU longer, unless a deal is reached by the end of February. Leading Brexiteers have attacked such initiatives, saying they would take control of events from the Government. In another sign of opposition to the Prime Minister’s stance, 19 ministers, including Cabinet members, have been meeting to discuss preventing a no-deal Brexit, according to the Daily Telegraph. – Telegraph (£) Liam Fox announces agreement in principle on Israeli trade deal The Brexiteer minister announced the trade deal, which will be Britain’s first after leaving the bloc, with Israel at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier today. He said the deal has been agreed “in principle” with Israel, with whom the UK currently shares a £10 billion trade relationship. Speaking at the forum, Mr Fox said: “As Britain prepares to leave the European Union and to ensure continuity for our businesses in both directions, we’ve reached agreement in principle with our colleagues in Israel. “The continuity as we leave the European Union will be a precursor to an even more ambitious agreement in the future”. Trade between the UK and Israel was more than £10 billion last year. Israel’s minister of economy Eli Cohen said: “I am sure that this free trade agreement will help us to accelerate and increase even more and strengthen our economic relationship.” Mr Fox is also expected to meet other trade ministers while he is at Davos, including officials from South Korea, Hong Kong, Canada and Colombia. He has made it clear he wants to sign agreements with trading partners outside of Europe to ensure a peaceful transition. – Express Spain uses EU ‘no deal’ Brexit plans to push claims for the ‘decolonisation’ of Gibraltar Spain is demanding that the European Union recognises its demand for the “decolonisation” of Gibraltar in all coming EU legislation for a Brexit ‘no deal’, the Telegraph can reveal. In a highly provocative move, Spanish officials have demanded the inclusion of a footnote in all the EU ‘no deal’ legislative proposals that explicitly recognises Spain’s continued dispute with Britain over the sovereignty of The Rock. A leaked draft of proposed EU legislation to enable visa-free travel in the event of a ‘no deal’ contains a list of UK dependent territories, but with an asterisk by Gibraltar linking to the footnote. It says: “There is a dispute between the Government of Spain and the government of the United Kingdom concerning sovereignty over Gibraltar. The territory is registered on the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories of the United Nations, subject to decolonisation.” The Government hit back, issuing a statement saying that “we completely disagree with this description of Gibraltar” and promising that Gibraltar would be covered by any ‘no deal’ agreement on visas. “The EU’s provisions for visa-free travel into and out of the Schengen area clearly cover Gibraltar meaning in any scenario citizens will be able to move in and out of Spain,” a spokesperson added. – Telegraph (£) US intelligence official says Brexit will not harm info-sharing relationship with Britain Brexit will not harm the information-sharing relationship between Britain and America’s spy agencies, a leading US intelligence official has told The Telegraph. Anthony Vassalo, a senior figure at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence – the top body in US intelligence – said he expected no “material change” after the UK leaves the European Union. The comment, which comes with Britain locked in uncertainty about the shape of Brexit, will allay fears that the country’s close intelligence-sharing links with America could be damaged. Concerns about the impact of Brexit on public safety have emerged in recent weeks, with Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, warning that Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement would “threaten the national security of the country”. The UK and US are both part of the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance, along with Australia, New Zealand and Canada, which sees the countries readily share classified material. During a rare briefing with journalists to mark the publication of the Trump administration’s new national intelligence strategy, US officials outlined their plans for the coming four years. – Telegraph (£) Nick Timothy: Remainers have sabotaged Mrs May’s hopes of a Brexit compromise Almost 30 years ago, Geoffrey Howe resigned from Margaret Thatcher’s government and mortally wounded the prime minister with a devastating attack on her Euroscepticism. “It’s like sending our opening batsmen to the crease,” he said, “only for them to find that before the first ball is bowled, their bats have been broken by the team captain.” Today, the roles are reversed. The team captain, Theresa May, is heading for the middle with a bat that has been broken by her pro-European team‑mates. While her aim is to secure changes to the Irish backstop that will allow Conservative MPs to back her Withdrawal Agreement, the political classes, past and present, are working to ensure that she will fail. We are approaching the moment in negotiations when, conventionally, compromises are made and deals are done. In Brussels, they say nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, and they only agree everything at one minute to midnight. Sure enough, with a little more than two months until Britain leaves the European Union, there are signs that compromises might be possible. – Nick Timothy for the Telegraph (£) Maurice Glasman: Why No Deal Is the Real Deal The defeat of Theresa May’s government this week by an unprecedented margin in an alliance between pro-Remain Labour MPs and no-deal Tories opens up a fraught 10 weeks in British politics. The clock is ticking toward March 29, when, deal or no deal, Britain will leave the European Union. Having lost a crucial vote by the highest margin in a century, on the following evening Parliament returned a vote of confidence in her government. These are unusual times. In the House of Lords, barons and baronesses of the Labour movement ask me to sit down and explain how “anyone” could support Brexit. After half an hour and a cup of tea, they shake their heads in sorrowful incomprehension and drift back to their old friends. Bearing in mind that you may well agree with them, here is why I believe that leaving the European Union is the necessary goal of the left in Britain—and why staying in would doom us to a never-ending Clinton presidency in which the rich get richer and all change is good, unless it leads toward socialism. A progressive eternity of democratic impotence. – Lord Glasman for The Nation Theo Barclay: If we extend Article 50, the EU elections will become a second referendum on Brexit Theresa May has one weapon left in her armoury – the ticking clock. Her opponents fear she will win a repeat vote for her Brexit deal by delaying until there is no time left to run. Desperate to avoid being faced with a choice between May’s deal and no deal, many see only one solution – an extension to the Article 50 period. Labour’s Yvette Cooper this week will join with influential backbenchers Nicky Morgan, Oliver Letwin and Nick Boles to try and force the government to seek an extension. Those efforts look likely to succeed. Even some Leavers now accept that an extension might be the best way to obtain the Canada-style free trade deal that they want. Those Brexiteers should be careful what they wish for. An extension is a trap that could trigger a second referendum in all but name. If the two-year Article 50 period were extended as proposed the United Kingdom would remain in the EU until the end of 2019. In May all member states will elect a fresh set of MEPs and last week the European Commission’s spokesperson confirmed that the UK would have to participate in that election if it has not managed to leave the EU in time. – Theo Barclay for the Telegraph (£) Ross Clark: James Dyson is no Brexit hypocrite for moving HQ to Singapore, he knows world trade is Britain’s future Given that he employs 4,800 people in Britain, has invested his own money in a technological university and paid £185million in tax in 2017, you might think that Sir James Dyson was owed a bit of gratitude by our politicians. Instead, he woke up yesterday to hear Lib Dem Layla Moran accuse him of “staggering hypocrisy” and Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey condemn him for “short-termism”. His crime was to announce on Tuesday that he is moving his company HQ to Singapore. Given that Sir James argued for Britain to leave the EU, the news was like a red rag to a bull for frustrated Remainers. Dyson, they claim, helped land Britain in the soup and is now fleeing the country. But if you will excuse the pun, the charge against him really sucks. Dyson’s decision has nothing to do with Brexit and is the very opposite of short-term thinking. Sir James has looked ahead and seen that his most rapidly-growing markets over the next few years are going to be in the Far East. This is especially true, he believes, with his latest venture: Driverless cars. As for the charge of hypocrisy, it could only be made by someone who hasn’t bothered listening to the case which Sir James made for Brexit. – Ross Clark for The Sun Ruth Smeeth: A second referendum isn’t the answer; we need a deal It is devastating to think that’s where we could be. Instead we’ve had 30 months of fights over process and parliamentary procedure, of the government failing to engage and listen even with MPs like me who want to vote for a deal, of a vacuum of political leadership and we are left with a more divided and angry country than we had at the start of the referendum campaign. At the heart of the problem, alongside the failure of leadership, is the appalling political communication. I think it’s fair to say that the art of political storytelling and great oratory may have taken a holiday. During the referendum Remain campaigners failed to explain why staying in the European Union might be a good plan. The debate was framed as head versus heart and the Remain campaign forgot that emotion wins every day of the week. – Ruth Smeeth MP for The Times (£) Chris White: The Cooper amendment threatens to damage the constitution in ways that would be very hard to repair Last week the Commons voted that it had confidence in the May Government, yet on Tuesday it will seek to wrest control from the executive, and let the Commons take charge. This has the potential to test the UK constitution to destruction. Almost a dozen amendments have been tabled to the Government’s ‘neutral terms’ motion due for debate next week. Several of these seek to provide for a series of indicative votes – essentially a non-binding, advisory series of votes on a range of options that include Norway plus, Canada, No Deal, the current Government deal and so on. Others seek to reject leaving the EU without a deal, or insist on an expiry date being added to the backstop. Some of these may not be selected for debate, or are likely to lose narrowly. Most opposition and rebel Conservative MPs are coalescing around a combined amendment and Private Members’ Bill designed to remove the threat of No Deal. The European Union Withdrawal (no.3) Bill (The Cooper Bill) would mandate the Prime Minister to put a motion before the Commons on 26th February to seek to extend Article 50. If that vote was passed, the Prime Minister would be legally obliged to seek the extension from the EU27, although the EU would still have to agree for that to happen. – Chris White for ConservativeHome Xavier Bertrand: We in Calais are ready for no deal, why isn’t Britain? We can spend our time bemoaning the uncertainty arising from Brexit. We can talk forever about missed opportunities. Or we can collectively decide, as Europeans and Britons, to pull ourselves together and act. And we need to act immediately. This is what we have been doing for several months in the Hauts-de-France region, with the French government’s local administration, to ensure the ports of Calais, Boulogne and Dunkirk, as well as the Eurotunnel and airports, have 100 percent fluidity on day one in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Yes, I would like to make it absolutely clear: our ports and the Eurotunnel will be ready, including in the event of a no deal. But we are in a bilateral relationship: Dover and the Eurotunnel in Folkestone also need to be ready, and British road infrastructure needs to adapt. – Xavier Bertrand for the Telegraph (£) The Sun: Brexit battle lines drawn in Parliament as Tories support democracy — and Labour bids to take a flamethrower to EU referendum Battle lines are drawn. The Tories will see Brexit through. Labour will help destroy it. Yvette Cooper’s amendment to kill No Deal and “delay” our departure for months is a blatant ruse to wreck it. Her angry Labour colleague Caroline Flint, a former Remainer who unlike Cooper is doing the right thing by HER Leave-voting constituency, is sure of it. But Labour’s leadership now plans to back it… and it may well pass. They are committed, too, to surrendering to Brussels over a permanent customs union — destroying Brexit’s economic case, as Remainers want. For good measure they may even support a second referendum which could destroy Brexit as well as the country’s stability. That’s Corbyn and McDonnell’s gambit: abandon and betray their Leave voters to win over metropolitan Remainers. The Tories must instead do their duty by the 17.4million majority. They know No Deal represents vital leverage to convince the EU to fix the fatal flaw in the agreement on the table. And every day Brussels is weakening. – The Sun Brexit in Brief Forget talk of an EU army, the West needs NATO more than ever – Andrew Foxall for the Telegraph (£) For the EU to prosper, Britain must leave – Eoin Drea for the Guardian The Treaty of Aachen and the European army – John Redwood’s Diary Dyson’s Singapore move is pragmatism not Brexit ‘pluto-populism’ – Matthew Vincent for FT (£) And finally… Brexit boost for BBC Parliament as channel briefly outrates MTV One is a television channel that shows non-stop coverage of debates in the House of Commons. The other broadcasts reality TV shows including Teen Mom, Catfish, and Geordie Shore. But Brexit has helped make BBC Parliament, the often-overlooked public service channel that shows live coverage of select committees, briefly more popular than MTV. The channel hit an average daily reach in the week of 7-13 January of 293,000 people, according to official Barb ratings, aided by fierce debate over Brexit in the House of Commons – higher than the 251,000 a day who tuned in to the flagship youth channel over the same period. – Guardian