Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team House of Lords defeats Government on ‘meaningful vote’… The House of Lords has defeated the Government once again on the latest iteration of the so-called ‘meaningful vote’ amendment to the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill by 354 to 235 votes. The Remain-dominated House delivered a majority of 119 in favour of Viscount Hailsham’s ‘meaningful vote’ amendment to the Bill which would effectively give Parliament a veto on any Brexit deal. MPs will be asked to reverse the amendment, an adapted and lengthier version of Dominic Grieve’s amendment, on Wednesday. Grieve, who tabled the initial amendment, was at the bar of the House to watch proceedings along with other anti-Brexit MPs including Anna Soubry, Antoinette Sandbach and Chris Leslie. – BrexitCentral …with a Commons showdown on the issue now set for tomorrow… Theresa May is facing a showdown with pro-European Tory MPs after the Government after the Lords overwhelmingly backed plans to give Parliament a “meaningful vote” after Brexit. The Government was defeated by 354 votes to 235 after a Conservative peer tabled an amendment that ministers believe will undermine Brexit by tying the Government’s hands during negotiations. The defeat sets up a clash between the Government and pro-European MPs led by Dominic Grieve, a former Attorney General, when the EU withdrawal bill returns to the Commons on Wednesday. – Telegraph (£) This time a week ago, Theresa May and her whips were trying to avert a looming Commons defeat on Brexit. As if the lengthy farce of the government trying to negotiate its way out of the European Union wasn’t surreal enough, the Prime Minister now seems trapped in one of those repetitive Hades-style punishments in which she is forced to go through the same miserable exercise over and over again. Except this time, after peers sent back the issue of a meaningful vote to the Commons again, it’s going to be even harder.- Isabel Hardman for The Spectator Unelected peers set to block Theresa May’s Brexit plans again as EU bill heads back to House of Lords – The Sun Lord Sewel: Brexit powers row ‘not constitutional crisis’ – BBC News Calamity Hogg in full flow: The Lords sneered at Brexit as if inspecting an orf sardine at the club – Quentin Letts for the Daily Mail Peers think Brexit is a ‘calamity’ but they are actually instigating a greater catastrophe – the collapse of our democracy – The Sun editorial > Today on BrexitCentral: Debate highlights and how peers voted > Watch on BrexitCentral’s YouTube Channel: Viscount Hailsham rants after being challenged on Brexit Lord True: People tired of Parliamentary games over Brexit Baroness Evans: Not right that Lords can have a veto Parliament can’t negotiate the Brexit deal …as Rees-Mogg and Grieve hold a parliamentary coffee shop peace summit The leaders of the two wings of U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s feuding Conservative Party held peace talks Monday in one of Parliament’s most public venues. Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the pro-Brexit European Research Group, and Dominic Grieve, who is trying to ensure ministers can’t leave the European Union without a deal, spent 25 minutes discussing their differences sitting in the Despatch Box cafe in Portcullis House, as fascinated colleagues looked on. The pair are on opposite sides in the fight over whether Parliament should have a so-called meaningful vote on whatever agreement May negotiates with the EU. – Bloomberg Brexit deal reportedly unlikely until year-end as officials revise expectations… The Brexit negotiations are unlikely to reach any kind of conclusion until the end of the year because of continuing deadlock between the UK and EU over the Irish border and mounting political disarray at Westminster, said officials involved in the talks. Until recently politicians on both sides of the channel had assumed that the Article 50 process would be concluded by early autumn, with the critical vote on whether to approve any deal taking place in the House of Commons in October. But British and European officials are now revising their expectations, with some in the UK suggesting that the pact may not be agreed until November or until the December 13-14 meeting of the European Council, just three months before the UK leaves the EU. – FT (£) …while Brussels prepares for the mother of all EU summits next week June is not supposed to be the rainy season in Brussels. Migration and asylum. Eurozone. Brexit. Poland and the rule of law. A trade war with Washington. The EU’s long-term budget. After a year-long reprieve, in which election results in the Netherlands and France and solid economic growth gave the European political mainstream a boost, EU leaders will face a gathering storm at their June Council summit next week. “It’s a huge summit; let’s see how long it will take,” an Austrian diplomat said. “There are a lot of very divisive things to deal with.” – Politico May confirms tax rise needed to help pay for £20bn Brexit boost for NHS Tax rises will be needed to pay for the boost in NHS funding announced by the government, the prime minister says. Theresa May conceded the public would pay more, but promised this would be done in a “fair and balanced” way. The government also says economic growth and a “Brexit dividend” will help cover the costs of the increased spending, which will see NHS England’s budget increase by £20bn by 2023. – BBC News May confirms NHS boost will come from tax rises – City A.M. Taxes will have to go up to pay for boost in NHS spending, Jeremy Hunt admits – The Sun Theresa May pledges to overhaul David Cameron NHS reforms to get patients treated more quickly – Telegraph (£) Philip Hammond is the lonely fiscal conservative – James Hewood for CapX “This must be a plan that ensures every penny is well spent.” May’s NHS Brexit speech – full text – Conservative Home There’s no more money, Hammond tells cabinet – The Times (£) The Moggcast: “There clearly is a Brexit dividend” but “the IFS and the Bank of England carry on with Project Fear” – Conservative Home > Watch on BrexitCentral’s YouTube Channel: Hugh Bennett on the Brexit dividend – It’s a fact we send money to the EU > Dr Gerard Lyons today on BrexitCentral: With a clean break from the EU and the right economic policies, there will be a Brexit dividend EU could cancel Brexit security deal if UK quits European Court of Human Rights If Britain leaves the European Convention of Human Rights after Brexit, it will trigger a “guillotine clause” that will nullify any UK-EU security partnership to fight crime and terrorism, under plans suggested by Brussels. The security agreement would also be cancelled if the European Commission or the European Court of Justice decided that UK data protection standards did not match EU standards, according to slides presented by the commission to EU 27 diplomats. – Telegraph (£) Ministers accused of betraying Gibraltar over airport access talks Ministers were accused of betraying Gibraltar last night after confirming Spanish access to the Rock’s airport is on the EU negotiating table. Junior Brexit minister Robin Walker said it was worth “having a discussion” with Madrid on issues “relating to shared economic benefit” when probed by peers about the future of the airport. The Spanish have eyed the Ministry of Defence’s strategically important runway on their southern tip of Spain for decades as they have no airport of their own nearby — but the Government insist its ownership is not under threat. But last night MPs from across the divide reacted in fury — warning it would be the “thin edge of the wedge” for a Spanish grab on British territory, disputed since 1713. – The Sun > Craig Mackinlay on BrexitCentral today: Gibraltar deserves representation in the House of Commons post-Brexit Tories open London mayoral candidacy to all – except die-hard Remainers The Conservatives are calling on people from outside politics as well as within to apply as the party’s future mayoral candidate to take on Sadiq Khan in 2020 – but die-hard Remainers need not apply…Despite the capital having voted in favour of Remain, and the weekend’s Lewisham East by-election resulting in a win for defiantly anti-Brexit Labour candidate Janet Daby alongside a surge for the Liberal Democrats, Sutton MP Paul Scully argues the mayoral race will not be about Brexit. By 2020, “we will be out” and looking forward, he claims. “We need someone who isn’t going to rake over old arguments but see the opportunities,” the Leave-backing MP said. “There will be no going back – it has to be about making the most of it for London.” – City A.M. Merkel given two weeks to seal EU deal or migrants will be sent back from German border, minister says The chairman of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU) said on Monday he was ready to turn away at the German border migrants registered in other European Union states if Chancellor Angela Merkel does not seal an EU migrants deal later this month. “We wish the chancellor much luck,” Horst Seehofer, who is also German interior minister told a news conference after the CSU unanimously backed his new immigration plan. – Telegraph (£) Asian investors pour record amounts of cash into City skyscrapers Asian investors poured record amounts of money into London skyscrapers in the first six months of this year, with a whopping 68 per cent of City office purchases coming from Asia.According to research from real estate firm Savills, which looks at offices in the City over 20 floors, Asian buyers invested £3.1bn in the first half of the year, an increase of over £300m compared to the first six months of last year.The research follows the sale of Ropemaker Place today to a Singaporean-listed company for £650m and the acquisition of UBS’ London headquarters for £1bn by a Hong Kong property tycoon last week. – City A.M. Ambassador’s fury as historic British embassy in Washington is set to be closed for two years after Brexit Britain’s ambassador to America has reacted with fury after he was told his official residence will have to close for two years after Brexit for building work. The British residence has been at the the heart of diplomatic life in Washington for 90 years – hosting presidents, royalty and The Beatles. Britain’s ambassador Sir Kim Darroch has been told the building will shut its doors and he will have to move out while asbestos is removed. He has warned that shutting the historic embassy just as Britain is quitting the EU and at a pivotal time in Britain’s Special Relationship with the US would be damaging. – Daily Mail Labour MPs hit by Rees-Mogg Brexit protest Senior Labour MPs have been targeted by a pro-EU ad campaign, accusing them of “being in the pockets” of hardline Brexiteers. Campaign group Our Future Our Choice (OFOC) unveiled the billboards on Monday, which depicted shadow chancellor John McDonnell poking out of the pocket of Tory backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg. Nia Griffiths, Labour’s shadow defence secretary, was also portrayed in a similar style, protruding from the pocket of former UKIP leader Nigel Farage. The banners are a throwback to the Conservatives 2015 election campaign, which showed then-Labour leader Ed Miliband in the pocket of former SNP first minister Alex Salmond.- Sky News Irish foreign minister: London giving ‘conflicting’ Brexit signals It would be “unrealistic” to expect the EU and U.K. to resolve Brexit issues relating to the Irish border before EU leaders meet in Brussels later this month, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told Politico, citing “conflicting” signals from London. “There’s been a lot of conflicting messaging quite frankly from British ministers in terms of what they want and don’t want from Brexit so we’ve always focused on what the prime minister is saying, not what other ministers that may have different perspectives have been saying,” he said. – Politico Liam Fox: Improving UK trade with China is major step on path to prosperity Today I will address British and Chinese businesses at the Centre for Policy Studies’ China Conference and one thing that won’t be understated will be the impact of China on the international trade landscape. Some will see this through the lens of recent news about steel tariffs and China’s interaction with the US. While others will have charted China’s vast expansion in industrial capacity over the past 20 years that has transformed industries worldwide and its own economy. What’s clear is that China’s success is part of the wider story of the rebalancing of the global economy with nations across Asia recording levels of growth above traditional economies of the Western world. As with any major reorientation there are challenges and opportunities. For Britain, our ambition is to become the world’s leading champion of free trade, taking the opportunity provided by our exit from the European Union to develop an explicitly pro-trade independent policy framework. – Liam Fox MP for the Telegraph (£) Britain needs reminding of China’s challenges and opportunities – Robert Colvile for the Times (£) Michael Ashcroft: Leave voters would rather lose Northern Ireland than give up the benefits of Brexit It seems ironic, when we remember the sound and fury generated on both sides of the referendum campaign, that the biggest sticking point in the Brexit negotiations – the Irish border – is one that was hardly mentioned before the vote. As with so much in politics, how you see this conundrum depends on who you are and where you sit.My latest research finds that for Nationalists in Northern Ireland, the practicality of customs checks is almost beside the point: any kind of border in an island that they see as one country is unthinkable. For them, avoiding a hard border eclipses any other potential goal of the Brexit negotiations. But most Unionists in Northern Ireland, especially those who voted to leave the EU, believe the border issue is being deliberately exaggerated. – Lord Ashcroft for the Telegraph (£) Brexit voters would rather cut Northern Ireland loose than stay in customs union, poll finds – Telegraph (£) Daily Telegraph: Free ports can raise us from the mire of Brexit As Theresa May continues to be buffeted in Parliament over Brexit, the extrication of the UK from the EU risks being seen by voters as little more than a mind-numbing procedural squabble. The Government has not been very adept at setting out the opportunities that arise from leaving, other than to raise hopes of future trade deals which would take years to negotiate. Yet there are Brexit dividends that are within the country’s unilateral remit. When we leave, it will be possible to set up a network of free ports in areas that could do with benefiting from the economic boost they bring. – Telegraph (£) Supercharged Free Ports, the visionary way to boost the north of England’s economy – Chris Walker for ConservativeHome Brexit in Brief A Brexit straitjacket is too high a cost for UK to stay in single market – Juliet Samuel for the Telegraph (£) Can the UK rejoin the World Trade Organisation? A response from WTO – Quentin Patterson for Briefings for Brexit The Bank succeeds in slowing money and credit – nothing to do with Brexit – John Redwood’s Diary Labour is the source of the real Brexit showdown – John Baron MP for CommentCentral Youth unemployment still scars the Eurozone – Briefings for Brexit Donald Trump attacks Angela Merkel over open-door immigration policy – The Times (£) Angela Merkel accepts deadline for deal on migrants – City A.M. Maugham’s Mystery £100,000 Donor – Guido Fawkes Angela rises from the ashes – Politico European Council extends Russian sanctions – City A.M. Student visa snub is ‘kick in teeth’ for India – The Times (£)