Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team UK economy to ‘grow faster than Japan’ Britain will no longer linger at the bottom of the growth league of advanced economies and will accelerate faster than expected over the next couple of years, according to a leading economic think tank. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said that it no longer expected Britain to be the slowest growing economy in the G20 group of industrialised nations this year or next. In March it put Britain’s growth at the bottom of the G20 economies for this year and next year, predicting that the country would miss a global upturn because of low consumer demand and Brexit uncertainty. Yet in its global economy health check, it has upgraded its forecasts for the UK, predicting 1.4 per cent growth this year and 1.3 per cent next year. – The Times (£) OECD upgrades UK economic growth forecast – City A.M. Car production accelerates – The Times (£) Hammond claims UK will have to stick with new EU privacy rules… Philip Hammond, the UK chancellor, says the country will have to stick with EU privacy rules even after Brexit, despite the US finding the new data protection regime “uncomfortable”. Visiting technology companies in San Francisco, Mr Hammond responded to criticism from Wilbur Ross, the US commerce secretary, that the General Data Protection Regulation would force “big changes” in how US and European companies do business. Mr Hammond said that after the UK leaves the EU it was going to have to remain “closely aligned” with the rules, which came into force last week, to ensure that companies can still use the UK as a “lily pad” to serve the European market and exchanging data freely with the EU. – FT (£) …but EU data law will stop us trading with America and damage the fight against terror, US Commerce Secretary warns US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a close ally of Donald Trump, hit out against the GDPR data protection law which took effect last week. The tough rules have brought chaos to businesses across Europe – and flooded people’s inboxes with emails asking for permission to use their information. Mr Ross claimed the law – which has been passed onto the UK statute book and will stay in effect after Brexit – is set to have a chilling effect on trade. Writing in the Financial Times, he said: “GDPR’s implementation could significantly interrupt transatlantic co-operation and create unnecessary barriers to trade, not only for the US, but for everyone outside the EU.” – The Sun EU data privacy laws are likely to create barriers to trade – Wilbur Ross for the FT (£) Brexit deal on security is blocked by France France is blocking Britain’s attempt to remain part of a European Union security system that helps to identify foreign criminals and is designed to keep the public safe. The government wants a guarantee that it can continue to access and share vital DNA, fingerprint and vehicle information with other European countries after Brexit. Ministers have said that Britain’s participation in the so-called Prüm Convention is “clearly in the national interest”. The system allowed French and Belgian authorities to identify the terrorists responsible for the Paris attacks in November 2015. Britain has been rebuffed, however, with France leading the resistance at a recent meeting to its efforts to join a “Prüm 2”. A senior government figure said: “Normally France is quite helpful when it comes to security co-operation but on this they are being awkward.” – The Times (£) ‘Embarrassing’ leak shows EU falls short of own data law – Telegraph (£) Top bosses warn PM ‘time is running’ out over Brexit… Theresa May has been told by the leaders of some of Europe’s biggest companies that “clarity and certainty” is needed over Brexit because “time is running out”.Following a meeting at 10 Downing Street on Wednesday, the business bosses issued the prime minister with a warning that “uncertainty causes less investment”. The group met Mrs May to discuss the UK’s future trade relationship with the EU, on which Brussels has imposed a deadline of October for a final agreement. Executives at the talks included Carl-Henric Svanberg, the outgoing chairman of BP and chairman of Volvo; Nestle chairman Paul Bulcke; BMW CEO and chairman Harald Kruger; Royal Mail’s outgoing CEO Moya Greene; Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao; and Erich Clementi, the chairman of IBM Europe who is also deputy chairman of the supervisory board at E.ON SE. – Sky News Time is running out, big business warns May – BBC News Theresa May told ‘time is running out’ by top EU business leaders – City A.M. Business leaders tell May post Brexit trade with the EU must remain as ‘frictionless as with a customs union’ – Daily Mail …as Ress-Mogg urges UK to follow Swiss model that simplifies customs Senior Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg last night demanded the EU cease its efforts to frustrate Brexit and resolve the Northern Ireland border issue. The leading Brexiteer is one of many who thinks Britain could model the province’s post-Brexit boundary on Switzerland’s frictionless frontier. Mr Rees-Mogg issued a rallying cry after the Daily Express saw at first hand how the Swiss manage to avoid a hard border by using technology and assessing risk. Surrounded by EU member states, its borders with Germany, France, Italy and Austria run smoothly despite it remaining resolutely outside the customs union. – Express Donald Tusk tells EU officials to ‘stop lecturing Italian voters’ for supporting Eurosceptic parties… Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, has told senior EU figures in Brussels to stop lecturing the Italian people for voting for Eurosceptic parties. Mr Tusk issued a withering put-down after it was reported that Gunther Oettinger, the EU’s Budget Commissioner, had suggested economic uncertainty could teach Italians not to vote for the populist Five Star Movement and anti-migrant League. “My appeal to all EU institutions: please respect the voters. We are there to serve them, not to lecture them. – Telegraph (£) …as Italian leaders meet before snap election Talks are taking place at the highest level in Italy in a bid to avert a full-blown crisis within the EU’s fourth-largest economy. Prime Minister-designate Carlo Cottarelli and President Sergio Mattarella met this morning, as the country lumbers on without a government in place. Populist parties Five Star and the Northern League are attempting to form a coalition once again. The parties are trying to find “a point of compromise on another name” for the economy ministry, after Mattarella vetoed 81-year-old eurosceptic Paolo Savon over the weekend. – City A.M. Don’t blame the populists for Italy’s chaos – Matthew Lynn for The Spectator For European voters, Italy is the latest example of the EU stripping the people out of democracy – Matthew Goodwin for the Telegraph (£) France, Germany and their Italian puppet – Peter Divey for CommentCentral The EU’s anti-democratic meddling in Italy should serve as a warning – Diane James MEP for City A.M. The latest Italian crisis could presage the end for the euro – Brian Monteith for City A.M. Brussels’ kamikaze tactics to keep the EU dream alive will end in tears – Allister Heath for The Telegraph (£) The EU is the enemy of democracy — its contempt for voters will prove its downfall – The Sun editorial Remain campaign leader sparks fury after he compares Britain quitting the EU to ‘appeasing Hitler’ A leading anti-Brexit campaigner sparked uproar last night when he compared Britain leaving the EU to appeasing Hitler. Ex-Labour minister Lord Malloch-Brown, who fronts the pro-EU Best for Britain drive, said: “For centuries Britain has ignored events on continental Europe at its peril.” He added Britain needed to stay lashed to Brussels because giving in to Hitler in the 1930s before the Second World War showed what happened when the UK tried to cut ties from the continent. The Leave Means Leave campaign branded his comments “a really crass comparison”… It is the second time this month that top pro-EU figures have used Nazi comparisons about Brexit. Lib Dem peer Lord Roberts likened Theresa May to Hitler three weeks ago in the House of Lords. – The Sun Brexit coins ‘backed by the Treasury’ after stamps to mark leaving EU rejected The Treasury has reportedly backed calls for a series of coins to celebrate Britain leaving the European Union, after similar proposals for commemorative stamps were rejected by Royal Mail. Brexit-backing Conservative MPs have written to the minister in charge of currency to ask that new coins be minted to mark the historic milestone, with Britain set to depart the bloc on 29 March 2019. According to The Sun, Robert Jenrick MP, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, has now responded to the MPs and has indicated his support, writing that he could “see the argument” for them. – Telegraph (£) Eton provost in charge of coin to mark Leave victory – The Times (£) More than two-thirds of Brits are united in the view that immigration has ‘divided’ communities, according to new poll More than two-thirds of Brits are united in the view that immigration has “divided” communities, according to a new poll. The negative view of immigration was one of the few unifying factors in the study which also suggests people in the UK are strongly nostalgic for the past. The poll by Demos for Sky News saw 63 per cent of those asked say they think life in Britain was better in a bygone age, and the same amount think Britain’s status on the world stage has declined since their youth. It showed 71 per cent of people thought immigration had been divisive in areas that have seen migrants arrive, rising to 78 per cent for people living in those multicultural communities. – The Sun Immigration is a net positive but what’s in it for the UK? – Walter Ellis for Reaction Why we shouldn’t scrap the ‘tens of thousands’ immigration target – Alp Mehmet for City A.M. Battle to reshape UK government machine for life after Brexit The U.K. government is mulling an overhaul after Brexit — and that starts with the department charged with taking Britain out of the European Union. Despite the fact that much of the substance of the U.K.’s future relationship with the EU will not be negotiated until after Britain’s formal departure on March 29, 2019, high-level discussions have taken place about the future of David Davis’ department. Some senior officials are concerned that to leave DExEU in place after Britain’s officially leaves the EU would undermine the government’s central promise to voters that it would take Britain out of the bloc by 2019. – Politico Caroline Lucas to fight for second referendum in areas that voted Leave after stepping down Caroline Lucas will spend more time fighting for a vote on the final Brexit deal in prominent Leave areas once she steps down as co-leader of the Green Party in September. Ms Lucas, who is the party’s sole MP and has represented Brighton Pavilion in the House of Commons since 2010, yesterday announced she will not run again for leadership in the forthcoming election. Under the rules of the party, leaders are elected to serve a two-year term. ‘Brexit is a factor’ She had returned for a second spell as leader in 2016 on a joint ticket with Jonathan Bartley, who leads the opposition group on Lambeth council in south London. And the former MEP plans on using her time to concentrate on her constituency and to campaign for a people’s vote on the final Brexit deal. – i News UK may get poorer access than Israel to EU science scheme Theresa May’s appeal for a special Brexit deal on science and research collaboration, worth billions to the British economy, is being stonewalled by Brussels as it prepares to offer an arrangement less privileged and more expensive than that given to non-EU states such as Israel. The European commission’s negotiators refused to discuss the issue in formal talks last week, instead insisting they would present the UK with conditions of entry for a “third country” into its €97.9bn research programme once they had been formally published. – Guardian Matthew Lynn: Don’t blame the populists for Italy’s chaos Bond yields are soaring. Stock markets are tanking. The banks are looking wobbly, and money is starting to drain out of Italy. To listen to the mainstream commentary on the Italian crisis part 782, you’d imagine that a wild and irresponsible ‘populist’ government had just been tamed by the financial markets. And that once some sensible suits backed by the IMF and the EU take back control in Rome order would be restored and everything will be back to normal.The trouble is, that is not quite the whole story. In fact, the markets have already worked out that Italy is leaving the euro, at least in its present form.- Matthew Lynn for The Spectator Brian Monteith: The latest Italian crisis could presage the end for the euro There have been many warnings about the future of the euro, but so far the single currency has survived all the shocks and crises it has faced. Now the economic and political challenges from Italy present its biggest threat yet – and together with Brexit open up a war on two fronts for the European Commission. Long before it even launched, I read of many reasons why the euro currency was, for some countries, a bad idea. Most of those were economic. – Brian Monteith for City A.M. The Italian President is teaching irresponsible populists that “I want never gets” – Garvan Walshe for ConservativeHome James Rogers: Here’s how Brexit Britain can remind the rest of Europe how much it does to uphold peace When it came down to the crunch, the defence of Europe was always likely to become part of the Brexit negotiations.The EU is involved in almost all aspects of our national life. In recent years it has taken an even larger role in areas once thought to be exclusively the role of the nation state – or of NATO.Only last autumn, the EU agreed on a raft of measures as part of its much-vaunted ‘defence union’, including Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), the Co-ordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) and the £4.5bn yearly defence fund. – James Rogers for the Telegraph (£) > James Rogers on BrexitCentral today: The UK must rediscover its strategic vision if it is to succeed as ‘Global Britain’ after Brexit Alp Mehmet: Why we shouldn’t scrap the ‘tens of thousands’ immigration target The target is an excellent tool for focusing policy, as well as showing government failure. It does not put off talent. International visa applications for university have risen 15 per cent since 2010/11, and study visas for Indian nationals increased 30 per cent over the past year. The ceiling on high-skill visas may have been reached in recent months and may need adjustment post-Brexit, but let us bear in mind too that it is also intended to encourage investment in training, which has been abysmal in recent years. Nearly two thirds of the public want a large reduction in immigration. The Tories promised to do just that. But net migration remains a quarter of a million a year – the same as in 2010 – and is contributing to annual population growth equal to a city the size of Bradford. England remains one of the most crowded places in Europe. Instead of reneging, the government should double its efforts to reduce mass immigration. The failure of politicians to keep their promises should not mean letting them off the hook. – Alp Mehmet for City A.M. Iain Martin: We can’t allow the City to be bossed by Brussels The penny has dropped at the Bank of England at least. There may be upheaval involved in Britain leaving the EU but it would be bonkers — bananas, crackers, totally tonto — for the City, one of the world’s two leading financial centres, even to consider agreeing to be regulated by email from Brussels, Paris and Frankfurt. They are tiny in terms of capacity and financial clout compared with London. The Treasury under Philip Hammond takes a different view and earlier this week the row spilled into the open between two of the nation’s key institutions: one the guardian of the pound and finance in the City and across Britain, the other the holder of the national purse-strings in Whitehall. – Iain Martin for The Times (£) Wilbur Ross: EU data privacy laws are likely to create barriers to trade We in the US are deeply concerned about the way the EU’s new privacy guidelines, which came into effect last week, will force big changes in the way US and European companies do business. Donald Trump’s administration supports the new General Data Protection Regulation’s goal of protecting personal online data while continuing to enable transatlantic data exchange. We are also committed to working with the EU to implement the new guidelines. We believe that data-sharing rules must respect privacy and protect our shared interests of maintaining public safety and the easy functioning of the internet, while also taking into account the regulatory, scientific, and commercial needs of all our countries. – US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for the FT (£) Brexit in Brief How Brexit can give Britain a stronger economy – John Redwood MP for The Commentator Run for the Brexits, Gordon is risen from the grave – Gary Oliver for ConservativeWoman Boris Johnson’s dad wants a rerun of the Brexit vote over Russian influence – City A.M. Jacob Rees-Mogg: PM ‘crucial’ to delivering Brexit – BBC News UK fishing communities ‘must reap benefits of leaving EU Fisheries Policy after Brexit’ – Express Lowest number of strikes ever recorded took place in Britain last year with just 79 walkouts – The Sun Shellfish industry on Brexit impact – BBC News Theresa May’s latest suggestion to solve Irish border issue dismissed by EU as ‘very complicated’ before it was even presented at Brexit talks – The Sun And finally… MEPs plot rap battle to win over young voters MEPs are going head-to-head with professional MCs in a freestyle rap battle tomorrow as part of the EU’s efforts to win over the youth vote in what it dubs “our coolest event ever”. European parliamentarians from some of the biggest parties including the EPP and Alde have been teamed up with four rappers for the event, where they will take on “topics relevant to Europe today”. The topics will only be announced at the start of each rap battle, when MEPs including Tomas Zdechovsky and Dita Charanzova will take on Gramski, Dekay, Felman and MC Angel. Eight Mile it’s not. – City A.M. Eurocrats set to stage cringey rap battle to try to promote the EU among young people – The Sun EU wants more Brits of student age – Politico