Government defeated in Lords over amendment guaranteeing EU nationals’ rights The government has been defeated after the House of Lords said ministers should guarantee EU nationals’ right to stay in the UK after Brexit. The vote, by 358 to 256, is the first Parliamentary defeat for the government’s Brexit bill. However, MPs will be able to remove their changes when the bill returns to the House of Commons. – BBC May insisted she wants to make the promise, but only when the same is offered to our citizens on the continent in exchange. But the upper house forced through an amendment to the law authorising the start of Brexit talks, by 358 votes to 256. That sparked a major constitutional stand-off, as traditionally the Lords never challenges a bill that has not been amended by the Commons. – The Sun Former Conservative leader Lord Howard was among the critics, arguing that amending the Bill only delayed Brexit negotiations, further extending uncertainty for EU nationals. Similarly, former Tory minister Lord Tebbit and Migration Watch founding chair Lord Green were among the peers to question the impact for British citizens overseas. – City A.M. Watch: The moment peers defeated Government over Article 50 bill – Daily Mail Lord Tebbit complains peers were not putting British subjects first in the Brexit debate – Daily Mirror Watch: Archbishop Sentamu tells peers not to amend Article 50 Bill – ConservativeHome The House of Lords should not needlessly complicate Brexit – Lord Strathclyde for the Daily Telegraph (£) Lord Moat compared the worries of EU nationals to Idi Amin’s victims: a whiff of hypocrisy in the Lords – Quentin Letts for the Daily Mail How emotional peers spoke up for ‘a bullied and beleaguered minority’… Remainers – Michael Deacon for the Daily Telegraph The Lords’ Brexit revolt over EU citizens’ rights will help no-one except for their egos – Asa Bennett for the Daily Telegraph > On BrexitCentral today: A breakdown of how peers divided in last night’s crunch vote Ministers insist they will overturn the move in the Commons The government will seek to overturn the defeat inflicted on its Brexit bill by the House of Lords, sources say… The government said it was “disappointed” at the first defeat for its draft legislation. MPs will have the chance to remove the Lords’ amendment when the bill returns to the House of Commons. – BBC Theresa May planning on triggering Article 50 within a fortnight The Prime Minister is confident the amendment will be rejected by the Commons later this month, and Downing Street insisted the timetable for Brexit “remains unchanged”… The amended Bill will return to the House of Commons on March 13 and March 14, when MPs will debate whether to keep the changes. Mrs May intends to notify the EU of Britain’s intention to withdraw on March 15, triggering two years of negotiations that would end with Brexit in 2019. – Daily Telegraph Liam Fox warns EU against trade barriers Trade barriers put up by the EU with Britain for political purposes would be “economically dangerous”, Liam Fox, the UK’s international trade secretary, said on Wednesday. Mr Fox told a private equity conference in Berlin that Britain wanted to play a major role in global trade after leaving the EU and aspired to be the “most attractive place to do business”. In a speech that had as its core theme the need to maintain “fair, free and open trade” across the world, Mr Fox warned EU governments not to impose trade barriers on Britain as a form of punishment. –FT Gina Miller warns Theresa May of new court battle if Parliament is not guaranteed vote on leaving EU The woman who forced Theresa May to consult MPs on triggering Article 50 has warned ministers they could face a new Brexit court battle if they do not allow Parliament a final vote on quitting the EU. Miller raised the prospect of further “legal challenges” if the Prime Minister refuses to rewrite her Article 50 bill to guarantee Parliament a final vote. Ms Miller told The Independent that the Supreme Court judgement in the case her team won against the Government, demands MPs approve any move to leave the bloc following negotiations – whether on terms Ms May agrees or with no deal secured at all. – Independent Lib Dems and Labour politicians ask EU to punish Britain over border control Liberal Democrats and Labour MEPs sparked fury last night as they urged Brussels to directly intervene and slap sanctions on Britain for trying to reduce migration… A coalition of Brussels politicians, including Lib Dem and Labour MEPs, urged Jean-Claude Juncker’s EU Commission to consider “infringement proceedings” against the UK over its migration controls.They said that strict new Home Office guidelines requiring EU citizens to have enough money to pay their way without claiming benefits and to buy health insurance so they do not drain the NHS were discriminatory – Daily Express European Commission outlines five scenarios for the EU’s future in white paper The European Commission has outlined five scenarios for the future of the European Union in a white paper obtained by Politico. The paper is an attempt by the Commission, led by President Jean-Claude Juncker, to shape a major debate about the EU’s future following Britain’s shock decision to leave. The document is also intended to influence a declaration by the 27 countries remaining in the EU at the bloc’s 60th anniversary summit on March 25 in Rome.The paper starts with a somber tone, acknowledging the existential struggle the EU is facing due to crises over Brexit, migration and the eurozone. “Europe’s challenges show no sign of abating,” the paper says. – Politico Jean-Claude Juncker: ‘Brexit won’t stop us’ . – Daily Express Juncker says Brexit will mark ‘birth’ of a new EU – The Independent Junker: EU could give up dream of political union and be ‘nothing but the single market’ – Daily Telegraph EU weighing contingency plans if UK walks away from Brexit talks Britain’s EU partners are quietly preparing for the possibility that the UK government may walk out of negotiations on divorce from the European Union within the next year, once Brussels’ chief negotiator Michel Barnier presents a politically toxic exit bill between €50 and €60 billion and refuses to discuss any future trade relationship until London commits to paying its dues. – Paul Taylor for Politico Rees-Mogg dubs John Major ‘snide and bitter’ over ex-prime minister’s anti-Brexit remarks Jacob Rees-Mogg has launched a stinging attack on John Major after the former Tory grandee dubbed Brexit “an historic mistake”… Mr Rees-Mogg accused the aged politician of dividing the nation with his remarks. He said: “People took to the streets in protest at David Cameron’s victory in 2015 but that soon faded away; and while the immediate choler in relation to June’s results may remain in the House of Lords, most sensible people are no longer focusing on the divisions but waiting for the Government to get on with the process of leaving.” – Daily Express > Jacob Rees-Mogg on BrexitCentral yesterday: Sir John Major’s negative and defeatist Brexit speech re-opened wounds he claimed he wanted to be healed One in four EU citizens who study in England go home without paying a penny of their student loans It has left UK taxpayers picking up a bill of more than £400million for their unpaid debts. MPs said it exposed one of the many “hidden costs” of EU membership and demanded Theresa May use Brexit to stop taxpayers being ripped off. Students from across Europe who choose to attend English universities get access to the same taxpayer-funded loan as British citizens. But analysis of figures from the Student Loans Company reveal 18,600 have not paid back a penny and authorities cannot track them because they have returned overseas. – The Sun Veterans demand Brexit for defence: Report says EU army ambitions could ‘undermine NATO’ A new report has revealed that Brussels’ ambitions for an EU army will undermine NATO and could see an attempt to control Britain’s military beyond Brexit. The Veterans for Britain report – Nouvelle Vague: An Audit of EU Defence Union Plans – co-authored by former Falklands commander Major General Julian Thompson and EU expert Lee Rotherham – has warned that the new defence integration plans released in November 2016 constitute a threat to NATO and interference with the way the UK’s and other nations’ armed forces are administered. It points out the UK could be dragged into procurement coordination putting shipbuilding and other defence manufacture decisions in doubt even after leaving the EU, via a “defence single market”. – Daily Express The 69 Remain MPs at risk of losing seats in general election New research has named 69 MPs who could be most at risk of losing their seats at the next general election if local voters rally behind pro-Brexit parties. All but two of the politicians are Labour, leading Brexit campaigners to claim the party will face serious pain at the ballot box unless it takes a more “constructive approach” in support of Brexit… Analysis for pressure group Get Britain Out lists 67 Labour MPs at risk over Brexit including David Winnick, whose Walsall North seat saw Leave with a 48.4 per cent lead over Remain. – Daily Express Markets hit new highs in boost for growth Stock markets hit record highs on both sides of the Atlantic yesterday after President Trump’s first speech to Congress was hailed as his most conciliatory and presidential to date. Traders seized on Mr Trump’s renewed promise of a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan and a markedly different tone. The FTSE 100 — Britain’s benchmark index of its biggest companies — closed up 1.6 per cent at 7,383, leaving it 23 per cent higher than its low point immediately after the EU referendum…It has also been boosted by the decline in sterling, which has inflated the foreign earnings of its members.. – The Times (£) The UK is still an attractive place for investors, despite Brexit fears – in one chart – Daily Telegraph (£) Senior Labour Assembly Member says EU handouts stopped Welsh wealth creation According to the former MEP, one consequence of Brexit will be less public money available and says dependence on the state for economic prosperity will have to be reduced. Eluned Morgan said: “Wales has lived a dependency culture for too long. We will now have to shake ourselves out of this culture and take seriously the role of becoming wealth creators.” – ITV Daniel Hannan MEP: British and Continental systems of politics and law are fundamentally incompatible That a British politician could be prosecuted for tweeting a gruesome image is almost unthinkable. At least as unthinkable as, say, a British burqa ban, or a British law against Holocaust denial. Don’t get me wrong: plenty of European countries have laws of this sort while remaining robust democracies. It’s just that such prohibitions are outside our political norms. The relationship between state and citizen evolved differently here. – Daniel Hannan MEP for ConservativeHome Graeme Leach: Forget the trivial Single Market – Brexit’s true economic dividend will be a revival of self-reliance and liberty Vitality has been lost inside the EU. The link between vitality, competition and innovation has been described by the Nobel Laureate Edmund Phelps as the “imaginarium” economy. The greatest windfall from Brexit would be if it helps change culture and institutions in the UK, to shrink the state. This would be an even greater Brexit dividend. Arguments about the Single Market are trivial when set against this.- Graeme Leach for City A.M. Hamish McRae: Italy now poses a bigger threat to the eurozone than Greece Most interesting is the divergence between Spain and Italy. Spain looks set to be the fastest growing of the larger eurozone economies this year, with growth around 2.5 per cent, whereas Italy is projected to be the slowest, with growth at only 0.7 per cent. Spain has made a series of reforms to its labour market and that has boosted employment – though unemployment there remains dreadfully high at just under 19 per cent. Italy has barely grown since the euro was introduced in 1999. – Hamish McRae for the Independent Matthew Lynn: Can the FTSE 100 break through the 10,000 barrier? Don’t rule it out The bull market is gathering enough strength to persuade even the most die-hard bear that equities are heading higher. Despite Brexit, and despite the election of Donald Trump, events which we were told would be catastrophic for the markets, all the main indices have been going higher. – Matthew Lynn for The Daily Telegraph Brexit comment in brief It’s pure rubbish to claim a low tax, low regulation Britain would be a disaster – Paul Ormerod for City A.M. Together we can unleash the potential of British tech – Karen Bradley MP for The Times Scottish Tories dig in their heels on Brexit strategy – Tom Peterkin for The Scotsman Will China’s love affair with British fashion survive Brexit? – Mellissa Twigg for South China Morning Post Brexit news in brief London no longer the most expensive city in the world after Brexit makes it cheaper to live and work in the capital – The Sun Trade department may have broken EU rules with ‘pro-Brexit’ contract criteria – Guardian May accused of ‘Scottish power grab’ over Brexit agriculture plans – The Times (£)