History is made as MPs give Government go-ahead to begin Article 50 negotiations… Remainers had hoped it would be the night when they finally made a dent in Theresa May’s Brexit plans as they put forward a bewildering array of new clauses and amendments to the Article 50 bill. Nine proposals in all, ranging from the rights of EU migrants to the opinions of the Gibraltar Government, were put to the vote, and one by one all nine proposals were thrown out by MPs. It was a flawless night for Theresa May, as the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill was passed by 494 votes to 122 in its original, unamended form. – Daily Telegraph > David Davis MP: I expect the House of Lords to do its patriotic duty – BrexitCentral’s YouTube channel Lords ‘will face abolition calls’ if they delay Brexit Bill – ITV News Lib Dem peers will try to amend Brexit Bill says Farron – ITV News The Commons has seen sense over Article 50 – now the Lords must follow suit – Daily Telegraph editorial > On BrexitCentral today: Full lists showing how every MP voted on the Third Reading of the Article 50 Bill …as Jeremy Corbyn is mocked for ‘pathetic’ Brexit rallying cry with ‘real fight starts now’ tweet Jeremy Corbyn has been mercilessly mocked for saying the “real fight starts now” after MPs overwhelmingly voted to back Brexit. The Labour leader took to social media after the Commons vote, in which the majority of his party backed the Government, to say he would now begin work to make a success of Britain’s departure from the EU. The sentiment was poorly received by Labour supporters, who questioned where his “fight” was in the run-up to the referendum last June. Mr Corbyn was criticised at the time for his lacklustre contribution to the Remain campaign. – Daily Telegraph Shadow business secretary quits over Brexit vote – Sky News The UK economy is gaining momentum despite Brexit fears, says the OECD UK economic growth is gaining momentum despite concerns over Britain’s future EU trade deal, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The composite leading indicator rose to 99.5, according to the group of richer nations, continuing a clear upward trend from July 2016, the month after the UK’s referendum on EU membership. – City A.M. Nearly half of British investors believe Brexit will be positive for them in 2017 Nearly half of UK investors believe that Brexit will have a positive impact on investment, but they are concerned by the leadership of Theresa May and Donald Trump, according to a new poll by investment firm IW Capital. A survey of 1,000 UK-based investors found that 44% believe the Brexit vote will have a positive impact on their investment strategies in 2017, despite widespread speculation that it would be destructive for the sector. – Business Insider Top EU envoy Valdis Dombrovskis jets into town for talks with chancellor and City chiefs One of the EU’s top commissioners jets into London this morning for a whirlwind pre-Brexit tour of the capital, telling City A.M. that a future deal on financial services must “work for all”. Valdis Dombrovskis, vice president in charge of financial services, said the European Commission would not set out to “punish” the UK during Brexit negotiations. He also backed London to retain its status as a “substantial financial centre” beyond Brexit. – City A.M. Former Governor of the Bank of England: MPs’ attitude made Brexit inevitable British politicians have “lost touch” with voters and elitist bids to suppress the EU debate made the referendum on membership that led to the Brexit vote “inevitable”, Mervyn King has said. The former governor of the Bank of England said he “resent[ed]” suggestions by friends and acquaintances that Britons who “even contemplated” voting for Brexit were “ignorant” or “racist”. He said voters were treated like “the British equivalent of the deplorables” – the term used by US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to describe half of Donald Trump’s supporters. – Daily Telegraph Ireland eyes up firms to poach from Brexit Britain and has already had more than 100 enquiries from companies Ireland wants to poach firms from Brexit Britain – and has already had 100 enquiries from companies – the country’s ambassador told MPs yesterday. Daniel Mulhall said Brexit posed “very real challenges” for Ireland ranging from the impact to trade and the border with the North. But he told a Commons Committee the Irish would look to fight back by marketing itself as a way firms could remain in the EU single market. “We naturally seek to avail of any upsides from this situation, such as the possibility of attracting some of the economic activity that may need to find a post-Brexit location within the European Union,” Mr Mulhall said. “This is a pragmatic response on the part of the Irish Government to managing the downsides of Brexit and responding to the reality that some companies will feel a need to move.” – The Sun Cabinet Office minister Ben Gummer rejects claims civil service is under-resourced for Brexit Ben Gummer, the new minister for the Cabinet Office, has rejected suggestions that a civil service currently at its smallest size since the Second World War is unprepared for the challenge of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union. In the wake of this summer’s Brexit vote, a number of senior figures have suggested that the civil service – which, after years of public spending cuts, is now 18% smaller than when the coalition government came to power in 2010 – will struggle to carry out a task that is likely to touch on all areas of government policy. Lord Kerslake, the former head of the civil service, told CSW after the referendum that he believed there was “no question” that “key policy departments” likely to be involved Brexit – including the Foreign Office and the Treasury – had “been stripped back” in recent years. – Civil Service World EU looks to agree formula with UK before issuing final Brexit tab The European Union wants to agree with Britain on a formula for calculating how much it will owe the bloc after it leaves, rather than defining a specific sum in advance, EU officials have said. The European Commission’s chief negotiator for Brexit, Michel Barnier, briefed the 27 remaining countries on Monday (6 February) on the methodology the EU executive was considering. At the seminar, closed to the press, he said some key components of the bill were still undecided or unavailable, making it impossible to fix a precise sum now, people familiar with the content of the meeting said. “A possible approach… was that we negotiate a methodology, we take a snapshot of EU accounts at the moment of Britain’s exit, we do a quick audit and we agree on how to calculate the British share of the accounts,” one official said. – EurActiv Shanker Singham and Victoria Hewson: Britain and the EU can have a great free trade future What the Prime Minister essentially said about no longer being bound by the common external tariff and having our own schedules at the WTO means that the UK will no longer be part of the customs union. However, she went on to signal a clear desire to put some form of agreement in place to preserve frictionless trade with EU member states. This is a sensible response to what must be done in the negotiations. Detailed research by the Legatum Institute’s Special Trade Commission sets out how tariff and non-tariff barriers that might apply outside of the customs union can be managed or indeed avoided altogether. – Shanker Singham and Victoria Hewson in the Daily Telegraph Kwasi Kwarteng MP: Economic war between the UK and EU is in no one’s interest Many illusions will be dispelled in the course of our negotiations to leave the EU. The first of these is the idea that the single market is an economic nirvana, from which it would be disastrous to depart. The second myth is that leaving the single market means we will have no trading relationship with the EU. We had trading relations with European countries for centuries, before the EU was even thought of. We will continue to trade successfully, and profitably, with our friends in Europe. The third myth is that being part of the single market in itself is a path to prosperity. If we just look around at some of the economic devastation inflicted on Greece and Spain in the past few years, we can see that mere membership of the single market is not a golden ticket to economic success. – Kwasi Kwarteng MP for CapX Matthew Ellery: Time for the experts to admit they were wrong about Brexit UK car manufacturing has hit a 17-year high, unemployment is at an 11-year low and the UK’s economy grew by more than any other G7 country in the final 6 months of 2016. Now, the Bank of England is even increasing its growth and jobs forecasts for 2017. One would have thought the positive economic news would have led to humility amongst Project Fear forecasters. But no. The goalposts have now been moved. They claim it was not their predictions which were wrong. Instead, they claim a crisis was averted by the Bank of England. – Matthew Ellery for Reaction Jason Cowley: The Prime Minister on Brexit, Trump, the return of the state and enticing Labour supporters to vote Tory In the Lancaster House speech on 17 January, the Prime Minister confirmed to her audience of diplomats and journalists (I was present) that Britain would leave the European single market and the customs union and take back control of its borders. The speech was praised by Brexiteers, and also in Brussels, where diplomats liked its clarity and the fact that she wasn’t asking for something complicated. – Jason Cowley in The New Statesman Michael Deacon: Another win for Brexiteers… and another loss for Jeremy Corbyn Remarkable. This evening, at around half past five, Chris Leslie (Lab, Nottingham East) complained that the debate about Article 50 hadn’t been long enough. Not long enough? It had been going on so long I could barely remember when it began. Sometime around Christmas, I think. Christmas 1992. A colleague insists it only started on Monday, but this is patently nonsense. It feels as if it’s been dragging on forever. The last time I saw my son, I was dropping him off at nursery. Now I probably need to drop him off at university. Which reminds me, I must call my wife. Assuming she still is my wife. – Michael Deacon in the Daily Telegraph Brexit comment in brief Soft Brexit ignores the people’s will – Jayne Adye for Comment Central How a real leader of the Opposition would deal with Article 50 – Garvan Walshe for ConservativeHome New Zealand shows British farmers how to embrace Brexit – High Commissioner Lockwood Smith for the FT (£) Championing of consumer rights needed in the Brexit negotiations – Labour peer Baroness Hayter for PoliticsHome We can’t stop Brexit now, but we can plan for a better Britain – Labour MP Wes Streeting MP in The Guardian Brexit news in brief Sadiq Khan to go on ‘Brexit grand tour’ of Europe to boost London business – Evening Standard EU’s Barnier on Irish Brexit concerns, determined to find solutions – Reuters Seven senior pro-EU Tories rebelled against Theresa May on key Brexit vote after insisting ministers went back on secret deal – The Sun SNP MPs sing Ode To Joy during Brexit Bill vote – Daily Telegraph