Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Plans for a No Deal Brexit are being reviewed every week, says top civil servant Jeremy Heywood Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood said the Government was “completely on it” in terms of planning for leaving the EU with no deal. But he warned that quitting without striking an agreement on future trade relations would only be a success if other EU countries and businesses also prepare. Sir Jeremy’s comments mark a victory for pro-Brexit ministers who raised concerns that he wasn’t doing enough to prepare for No Deal. In October senior Brexiteers within the Government said Remain-backing Cabinet ministers and civil servants were deliberately putting little effort into preparing for a no deal scenario to remove the likelihood of Britain walking away from Brexit negotiations… Sir Jeremy told the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee: “There are huge challenges with no deal, obviously we’ve done a vast amount of work on the no deal scenario and that work continues and we will do it to the best of our ability.” – The Sun EU toughens stance for Brexit transition talks… The EU has toughened up its conditions for a post-Brexit transition deal for the UK, demanding that Britain abide by stricter terms on immigration, external trade agreements and fishing rights for nearly two years after it leaves the bloc. The revised “directives” drawn up by EU member states for Michel Barnier, Brussels’ chief negotiator, complicate the talks by giving him more precise instructions on several politically sensitive topics for the UK, according to a draft seen by the Financial Times. These include extending free movement rights and a special status to all EU citizens arriving before the final day of the transition at the end of 2020. It also requires that British ministers seek “authorisation” from Brussels in order to continue benefiting from EU trade deals that it would otherwise fall out of on Brexit day. – FT (£) May faces tougher transition stance from EU amid Norway pressure – Guardian EU demands veto over UK trade deals with other countries for two years after Britain leaves – Independent EU freedom of movement rules could continue for up to two years after Brexit – Telegraph EU demands delay to end of free movement post Brexit – Politico Brexit talks in danger as EU gets tough on citizens’ rights – The Times (£) Two-year Brexit transition too short, says EEF chief – FT (£) …as Luxembourg and Sweden join list of EU countries backing Brexit trade deal including services… Two more EU countries have backed calls for a trade deal with Britain. Luxembourg and Sweden have joined Spain and the Netherlands in wanting a post-Brexit agreement which includes both goods and services. Italy, Poland, Hungary and the Republic of Ireland have also spoken in favour of such a treaty. Germany and France face a rebellion over their hardline Brexit stance. Luxembourg PM Xavier Bettel said: “Most would be happy to stick as close as possible to the current status quo.” Chancellor Philip Hammond has said any EU offer of a trade deal that does not include services would not be a “realistic proposition” for the UK. – The Sun …while Switzerland is told by the EU ‘not to make deal with Brexit Britain’ in ‘plot to punish UK’ The EU is pressuring Switzerland not to make a bilateral deal with Britain after Brexit, it was revealed last night. The move appears to be part of a “punishment agenda” by Brussels and has led to concerns that the European Commission is not negotiating with Britain in good faith. A private briefing has raised concerns that the EU is secretly pursuing an aggressive agenda against the UK at the same time that it is trying to force Britain to agree to “full regulatory alignment” with Brussels and give up the opportunity to compete. – Express Leave campaign’s £350m claim was too low, says Boris Johnson Boris Johnson has ratcheted-up his defence of Vote Leave’s infamous assertion on the side of their bus that Britain sends £350m a week to the EU by saying the group could have used a much higher figure. The foreign secretary said the UK’s weekly gross contribution would rise to £438m by the end of a post-Brexit transition period and insisted leave campaigners were right to pledge extra cash to the NHS. “There was an error on the side of the bus. We grossly underestimated the sum over which we would be able to take back control,” said Johnson, in an exclusive interview with the Guardian. Though he conceded that the leave campaign had used a gross figure, he said about half the total could be ploughed into public services. “As and when the cash becomes available – and it won’t until we leave – the NHS should be at the very top of the list,” said Johnson. – Guardian Leave campaign bus claim that Britain will save £350m a week after Brexit should have been higher, says Boris – Telegraph Boris Johnson says Vote Leave’s Brexit campaign bus £350million-a-week vow should have been £438million – The Sun Boris Johnson reopens Brexit row with claim £350m figure was ‘underestimated’ – Sky News Cabinet continues to be divided over EU trade talks stance Theresa May faces a cabinet split over the position Britain should adopt in its forthcoming trade talks with the EU, with increasingly assertive pro-European ministers pushing for the British economy to remain aligned with the bloc… Philip Hammond, chancellor, is leading calls for a “top-down” approach to trade talks, starting with an assumption that Britain will remain aligned to the EU model, except in areas where it chooses to opt-out of European regulations… But Boris Johnson, foreign secretary, is leading demands that Britain engage in a “bottom-up” approach, starting with a blank sheet of paper and assuming that it can diverge in all areas except where it opts in to EU regulations. Mr Johnson is backed by Michael Gove, environment secretary, and Liam Fox, trade secretary, who are championing the cause of Britain enjoying greater regulatory freedom after Brexit. The Eurosceptics’ approach is ironically more in tune with thinking in Brussels, where EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said Britain will have to negotiate a trade deal from scratch as a third country, like Canada. – FT (£) Global banks slash chance of Brexit ‘no deal’ and raise UK growth forecasts… The likelihood of the Government failing to reach a Brexit deal is plummeting, which should reduce the risk facing the economy and inject more confidence into businesses and investors, according to analysts at leading global banks JP Morgan and UBS. UBS Wealth Management said “the progress made on Brexit negotiations will likely have lessened uncertainty” for business investment and hiring, as “the UK looks set to enter a transition agreement” in which “little should change operationally for most firms”… The economy defied fears of a slump in 2016 to grow by 1.9pc and appears to have held firm with GDP growth of 1.8pc for 2017. JP Morgan has raised its growth forecast for this year to 1.8pc, extending the stable, if unspectacular, run. It expects growth to edge up to 1.9pc again next year. – Telegraph Sterling back over $1.38 for first time since Brexit vote – FT (£) Gina Miller is planning to sue the FCA over its lenient approach to new EU Mifid II regulation – City A.M. Britain may be on the brink of a productivity breakthrough – Ryan Bourne for City A.M. …as ECB official warns of Brexit ‘shock’ to European financial stability An influential eurozone central bank official has warned that an abrupt British departure from the EU would be a “genuine shock” threatening the stability of Europe’s financial system. Philip Lane, governor of the Central Bank of Ireland and a member of the European Central Bank’s governing council, said the Brexit negotiations were the issue that merited his closest attention this year — and emphasised London’s importance in providing financing to the rest of the bloc. “The City of London is the wholesale headquarters of the EU,” Mr Lane told the Financial Times. “If there is a genuine shock and we have a Brexit without a transition period, then that is a financial stability risk.” – FT (£) EU meddling threatens fund success, JP Morgan, Axa, Aberdeen say – Bloomberg Remainer rebels deny undermining Theresa May as they push EU to allow Britain to stay in the single market Brexit rebels denied undermining Theresa May last night as they pressed EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier on how to keep Britain in the single market. A group of Remainer MPs, including ex-Attorney General Dominic Grieve and arch europhile Anna Soubry, travelled to Brussels to meet the Frenchman. All of the five-strong gang, from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on EU Relations, backed Britain staying in the EU during the referendum. They warned the PM that Remainer-dominated Parliament will be prepared to vote down any deal she secures with Brussels that doesn’t meet their demands… Meanwhile Labour MP Chuka Umunna, also part of the group, warned Mrs May that Parliament is “not just a by-stander” in the negotiations… Ex-shadow chancellor Chris Leslie added: “Absolutely nothing is inevitable. There’s a whole series of choices available to Britain. It’s not a done decision.” – The Sun Remainer MPs bring ‘ideas and solutions’ to meeting with Barnier – Guardian How is our national interest served by MPs sucking up to Michel Barnier? – John Longworth for the Telegraph (£) Hard Brexit ‘would cost Scots £12.7bn’, claims Sturgeon report Scotland’s economy would be £12.7bn a year worse off under a so-called hard Brexit, according to analysis by the Scottish government. The figure is contained in a paper on the impact of UK withdrawal from the European Union. It calculates the cost to Scotland of the UK leaving the single market with or without a trade deal. The UK government insists it is seeking a Brexit deal that will work for the whole of the UK. And the Scottish Conservatives dismissed the analysis as “completely over-the-top scaremongering”. – BBC News Nicola Sturgeon warns hard Brexit could leave Scots £2,300 worse off – but fails to cost ‘best’ independence option – Telegraph (£) Sturgeon sparks outrage with damning ‘Project McFear’ report on Scotland leaving EU – Express Jeremy Corbyn should come off the fence and defend the single market – Ian Blackford MP for The Times (£) Only the single market guarantees British workers’ hard-won rights – Frances O’Grady for The Times (£) No consensus on Brexit for SNP until they drop referendum plan – Alan Cochrane for the Telegraph (£) Westminster Brexiters ignore Scotland at their peril – Gerry Hassan for the Guardian Scotland’s (latest) Brexit strategy – David Torrance for Politico > WATCH: David Scullion rubbishes the Scottish Government’s anti-Brexit report on Scotland Tonight France claims to have strong-armed Britain into revising Le Touquet border controls France claims it has strong-armed Britain into revising the Le Touquet accords governing border controls, upping financial contributions and creating a joint “operational task force” to handle asylum requests from migrants in Calais, sources in Paris have claimed. President Emmanuel Macron is due to meet Theresa May on Thursday for a bilateral summit in Sandhurst but beforehand, he will travel to Calais on Tuesday for his first trip to the channel port since his election last May… On Monday, Elysée sources said that Britain had agreed that the treaty would not continue in its current form. – Telegraph MPs’ fury as French boast they’ve forced Britain into coughing up more money in order to renew the Calais border agreement – The Sun Hundreds still make daring attempt to get to UK from northern France – Sky News UK officials call for investigation into European health insurance card programme U.K. lawmakers are calling for an inquiry into the country’s system for issuing European health insurance cards after a British newspaper showed it’s “easy” to apply for cards using fake information. The Sun successfully applied for EHIC cards with names such as “Donald Trump” and “Theresa May” and a fake national identification number, according to an article published late Sunday. The program allows card holders to get emergency treatment while traveling and working abroad in the EU. If the fake British cards had been used to acquire health care on the Continent, EU countries would have been entitled to bill the U.K.’s National Health Service for the care. – Politico Royal Mail says Brexit date will not be ‘important anniversary’ worthy of being marked by stamps The day Britain leaves the European Union will not be an “important anniversary”, Royal Mail has said in its first explanation of why commemorative stamps will not be produced… The national postal service also said that Brexit stamps would damage its “strict political neutrality” during elections and referendums, adding it does not get involved in “political matters”. Yet critics immediately pointed to the fact that in 1973, when Britain joined the European Economic Community, Royal Mail produced stamps showing a Union-Jack emblazoned UK jigsaw piece slotting into a bigger European puzzle. – Telegraph (£) Andrea Leadsom backs Sun campaign and blasts Royal Mail for issuing Pink Floyd stamps but refusing to do the same for Brexit – The Sun Asa Bennett: Brexiteers cannot let their referendum victory be defined by the losers Public resolve in Brexit has been shaken – rather than stiffened – by the relentless diet of doom and gloom from anti-Brexit voices about what is happening. Brexiteers need to keep selling their pitch to voters in order to combat Remainer efforts to stoke buyer’s remorse among the electorate… Remainers like Philip Hammond have been pushing to have Britain follow European rules closely, an idea that Mr Johnson, Politico reports, decries as “mad”. “I’d rather us stay in than leave like that,” the Sun reports him as telling allies… Theresa May recognised in her Lancaster House speech that “the British people voted for change” by deciding it was time to leave the EU. Remainers see that ‘change’ as awfully similar to the status quo, while Brexiteers like Michael Gove envisage a “new chapter” in British history. History, as they say, is written by the winners, so Brexiteers must make sure to help write it, rather than leave it to those who didn’t want to turn the page in the first place. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Phil McDuff: A second Brexit referendum would be more toxic and divisive than the first Remainers gleeful at Nigel Farage’s call for a second vote are foolish. Those who voted to leave the first time have been given no reason to change their minds… Like the hashtag “resistance” in the US, the nebulous coalition has done little to engage with the underlying problems that gave rise to Brexit, preferring to engage in symbolic self-indulgences like starting dozens of go-nowhere “centrist” parties on Twitter. By treating the non-London hinterlands of “Brexit Britain” as a place populated by a homogenous blob of white working-class flat-cap wearers with charming accents and misguided view who simply need to understand the truth explained to them by their betters, they have failed to come up with any positive argument for EU membership. – Phil McDuff for the Guardian How and why Britain might be asked to vote once more on Brexit – Andrew Rawnsley for the Guardian Referendum II is coming. Farage just can’t bear being a Brexit misfit – Marina Hyde for the Guardian Steven Woolfe: Ignore Farage’s attention-seeking nonsense: it’s time for May to answer the real Brexit questions We cannot afford for this endless debate to continue… Those opposed to Brexit must put their emotions to one side and come to terms with the reality that Brexit means Brexit; we are leaving the European Union. But this is not all down to strident remainers. The Government has an integral part to play in healing this national discord and looking forward to the future we will inevitably share together. The Government needs to set out a coherent vision for our life outside the EU…. The Prime Minister needs to clarify her objectives on global trade. Does she want an insular arrangement defined by continued regulatory alignment with Europe in a bid to maintain the status quo, or does she want to be bold and internationalist in her approach, agreeing enhanced arrangements with countries beyond Europe’s borders? The world is at our fingertips. – Steven Woolfe MEP for Reaction Juliet Samuel: Corbyn’s customs union confusion shows the party is not fit to govern The Labour leader’s confusion was laid bare by his appearance on Robert Peston’s Sunday talk show over the weekend. Peston asked him whether or not he would like Britain to stay in a customs union with the EU. He said: “There will have to be a customs union … obviously because if you’re in a trading relationship then clearly you can’t at the same time be putting tariffs on goods.” That, of course, isn’t true. In a vain attempt to get clarity, Peston then asked him whether his answer meant he would be happy to outsource our trade policy with China, the US and so on, to the EU. Corbyn replied: “Those bilateral trade deals are important because the areas I would want to look at are environmental protection, human rights standards [and so on].” This suggestion, of course, which would involve the UK deciding its own trade priorities, directly contradicts his previous answer about having a customs union. The simplest explanation for this is that he doesn’t actually understand what a customs union is. – Juliet Samuel for the Telegraph (£) Tom Harris: Jeremy Corbyn is right about the single market – though for entirely the wrong reasons Corbyn is wrong to say we cannot remain in the single market: such a scenario is obviously possibly and achievable. But he is right to say that we should not do it, and his opponents are fooling only themselves when they claim that such an arrangement – better labelled “I Can’t Believe It’s Not EU Membership” than any form of Brexit – could ever honour the result of the 2016 referendum… [W]hat grievance or complaint of the 17 million Leave voters would be addressed by this “solution”? It would guarantee that freedom of movement would carry on unchanged. It would mean our continued generosity in paying massive amounts of British taxpayers’ money to Brussels. It would mean the uninterrupted oversight of the ECJ. – Tom Harris for the Telegraph (£) 60 Labour MPs plotting to go against Corbyn in bid to stay in single market – Express Brexit comment in brief Brexit Britain will have to get used to life as a ‘third country’ – Rafael Behr for the Guardian Ukip no longer has a reason to exist as a party and should dissolve itself – Lord Hague for the Telegraph (£) The Conservatives must sort out immigration mess left by Labour – Express editorial The immigration debate didn’t end with the referendum – it’s only just beginning in earnest – Sunder Katwala for ConservativeHome Why most people have a much more balanced view of immigration than you might think – Jonathan Portes for the Independent A grand coalition in Germany will not paper over the cracks – Tony Barber for the FT (£) Europe’s biggest test will come in Poland – Gideon Rachman for the FT (£) Brexit news in brief UK elections regulator rejects Remain campaign spending complaint – Politico Cancer patients could be denied vital treatment after Brexit, claims MP – Telegraph (£) Eastern European slaves ‘collect clothes left out for charity’ – The Times (£) Report on UK’s reliance on EU workers ‘must be published urgently’ – Guardian European Parliament study says decision over reversibility of Brexit in hands of ECJ – Express Liam Fox to harness social media power to bolster UK exports in countdown to Brexit – Express UK’s military forces ‘must be able to protect Europe’ says Gavin Williamson – The Times (£) Nick Clegg claims special £115k-a-year expenses allowance which was previously only granted to former Prime Ministers – The Sun Brexit is hampering UK productivity, says Bank of England policymaker – Guardian Romanian PM resigns – Politico