Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Boris Johnson to push for more post-Brexit cash for the NHS at Cabinet today… Boris Johnson is expected to push for an extra £100m a week for the NHS in England after Brexit at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, the BBC understands. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will give ministers a routine update on how the NHS is coping with winter pressures.The foreign secretary is expected to use the occasion to demand extra money and a renewed focus on the service. A source close to Mr Johnson said that there is concern that “Number 10 is abandoning the territory”. Other cabinet ministers like Environment Secretary Michael Gove, are understood to share Mr Johnson’s anxiety. – BBC Boris Johnson demands £5bn extra for NHS – The Times (£) A liberated foreign secretary returns to the fray – Francis Elliott for The Times (£) …as Michael Gove warns Britain will end up with ‘VHS economy’ if it heeds business leaders over Brexit Michael Gove has warned Theresa May that Britain risks becoming an outdated “VHS economy” if it accepts calls by big business for the UK to be closely aligned with the EU after Brexit. The Environment Secretary told Cabinet that the big companies of today may be eclipsed by businesses that don’t even exist yet as he made the case for a clean Brexit. It comes after the CBI, Britain’s biggest lobby group, called for Britain to remain in a Customs Union with the European Union after Brexit. Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, and David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, criticised the move and warned it would effectively mean Britain stays in the EU. – Telegraph (£) The Brexit regulation debate pits short-term disruption against future prosperity – Henry Newman for ConservativeHome > Watch on BrexitCentral’s Youtube Channel: Priti Patel tells Good Morning Britain that if we were to listen to the CBI on the customs union “we would not actually be leaving the European Union” Negotiations continue behind closed doors in Brussels… The negotiations in Brussels on Britain’s departure from the EU may have dropped from the headlines since the new year, but to all intents and purposes, Phase 2 has already begun in earnest and major decisions that will shape the future of the U.K. and the EU are being made almost daily. This week, a draft withdrawal agreement is due to be published that will, according to an EU diplomat familiar with the situation, formalize the agreement on Phase 1 signed after Theresa May’s early morning dash to Brussels in December. But in truth, Phase 1 never really ended. Officials from the two sides have been meeting behind closed doors in recent days to clear up a raft of withdrawal issues that weren’t addressed in the December accord… At the same time, both sides have been engaged in final preparations for the Phase 2 negotiation itself — on the U.K.’s future relationship with the bloc. – Politico Whatever happened to the Brexit talks? – Adam Fleming for the BBC …while The Independent claims the UK has already ‘agreed in principle’ with EU to Norway-style transition… The UK has already “agreed in principle” to a Norway-style Brexit transition period in which it accepts all EU rules with no power to shape them, a senior figure in Brussels has told The Independent. A key member of the European Parliament’s Brexit team said British negotiators raised no objections to the plans, which would mean accepting free movement and customs union rules, and falling under the European Court’s jurisdiction. The suggestion that Theresa May’s team has all but swallowed the transition proposal from Brussels will anger Conservative MPs, who believe it leaves Britain a “vassal state” for some two years after Brexit. – Independent No need for any transitional period if we are simply leaving – John Redwood’s Diary …as Brussels plan to foot a £230m bill for citizens’ residency rights… Brussels will pay the costs of “settled status” residency applications for more than three million EU nationals in Britain after Brexit, in a plan said to be backed by Jean-Claude Juncker. The European Commission president will agree to pay Home Office bills of up to £230 million for EU citizens to secure their permanent residency rights in Britain, a source in Brussels said. The proposal to pick up the bill, tabled by Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s negotiator, and senior MEPs as a way for the EU to win the moral high ground in Brexit talks, had been “positively received” by Mr Juncker, the source added. “Juncker was open to the idea, which puts the EU on the side of citizens in Brexit and makes the British look petty for charging,” they said. – The Times (£) ….and plans for EU nations to catch UK fish before they reach British waters European nations are hatching plans to start landing fish before they reach British waters if the UK tries to block access for EU trawlers after Brexit. An EU diplomat told The Sun many species could be caught at a younger age in response to a complete ban. An EU diplomat said: “Those who have said they want to take back control of British waters forget that you can have the water, but we’re not talking about water we’re talking about fish.” – The Sun A year after May’s Davos speech, the City is still open for business A year ago, amid the febrile insecurity of Davos 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May had words of comfort for City firms still reeling from the UK’s vote for Brexit. Back then, she laid out her plans “to build a truly global Britain” that was “open for business” ahead of the country’s exit from the European Union, and met with bank bosses to further detail her vision for a financial services sector operating outside the bloc. Her efforts were well-received by City chiefs; Anne Richards, the chief executive of asset manager M&G said May’s speech had “resonated” and HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver said that the group had no regrets in keeping its global headquarters in London. – Financial News Sterling returns to pre-Brexit levels – FT (£) City of London steps up Brexit diplomacy as financial services white paper is shelved The City is seeking to take control of its post-Brexit future by ramping up engagement with EU member states, as it emerges that ministers have shelved plans for a financial services white paper. Meetings have been taking place with weekly envoys from the City of London Corporation and TheCityUK meeting ministers from across the continent. Previously, discussions had been on relatively informal terms, but City A.M. understands that the Square Mile’s diplomatic efforts have been ramped up after British and EU negotiators reached “sufficient” agreement on the first phase of talks in mid-December. – City A.M. UK growth upgrade could ‘dwarf’ Brexit hit Britain should prepare for a much more economically optimistic 2018 because global growth is better than predicted. That’s the argument of Lord Jim O’Neill, the former Conservative Treasury minister and Remain supporter. He said Britain’s growth forecasts are likely to be upgraded as China, the US and Europe show increased activity. The gloomy predictions of the possible effects of Brexit are likely to be “dwarfed” by the more positive figures, Lord O’Neill added. – BBC > LISTEN: Leave-backing economist Gerard Lyons discusses global economic prospects on the Today programme MEPs to vote on shrinking the European Parliament post-Brexit While the U.K. wrestles with Brexit, MEPs fight for the spoils — 73 parliamentary seats currently held by Brits. After months of negotiations and competing national interests, MEPs will vote Tuesday on a plan that would reduce the number of seats in the European Parliament from 751 to 705, according to a copy of the compromise amendment seen by Politico… But the most intriguing and controversial argument is not resolved in the proposed amendment, namely whether MEPs will allocate some seats to pan-European constituencies elected via a list system. – Politico Lord Lawson: Civil servants want to ‘frustrate Brexit’ Civil servants will “do their best to frustrate” Brexit, Lord Lawson has said in an interview with BBC Newsnight. The former chancellor said Whitehall felt uneasy about Brexit because it represented radical change. His remarks highlight unease in the cabinet at the civil service’s handling of Brexit. Cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood responded by saying that the civil service prided itself on supporting the mandate of the government of the day.- BBC I’m not resigning as party leader, says UKIP’s Henry Bolton UKIP’s leader says he will not be standing down and wants to change the way the party is governed. After several frontbench spokesman left their jobs and called on him to quit in the past few days, Henry Bolton spoke of “factional in-fighting within the party and to remove those who have been a part of that.” In a statement on Monday afternoon, he said: “In a single phrase, it is time to drain the swamp.” – BBC Henry Bolton can be Ukip’s Jeremy Corbyn – Nigel Farage MEP for the Telegraph (£) How Ukip went from 3.8 million votes to near oblivion – but fulfilled its mission along the way – Patrick Scott and Ashley Kirk for the Telegraph (£) Ukip has achieved its purpose. Perhaps the time has come to call it a day – Telegraph editorial (£) Iain Duncan Smith: On Brexit, as on appeasement, the CBI gets the big decisions wrong. Just what is the point of it? The CBI’s final position is to claim that even as we leave the EU we should stay in the customs union, even though 90 per cent of global growth will come from outside the EU in the next 15 years. I see that this is also a reversal of their position in 2013, when they said that such a position would, “be the worst of half way alternatives… leaving the UK with… zero influence over trade deals.” You would have thought that of all things, knowing that the EU’s share of world trade is shrinking, the CBI would have seized this opportunity to represent British industry. Yet they made a mess of the opportunity, as usual. – Iain Duncan Smith MP for the Telegraph (£) The CBI’s Brexit plan would muzzle the British lion, not let it roar – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Why the CBI wants to delay and dilute Brexit – Peter Lyon of Get Britain Out for CapX James Forsyth: Staying in the customs union would be a risky bet for May There’s renewed speculation in Westminster that Britain might end up staying in the customs union. The CBI is calling for the UK to stay in a customs union with the EU and Labour is expected to move to backing customs union membership soon.The argument goes that because customs union membership does not require free movement, it is compatible with the referendum result. Big exporting businesses tend to like the idea as it would ease most of the bureaucratic problems in moving goods around post-Brexit. But I don’t think Theresa May will go for this idea.- James Forsyth for The Spectator William Hague: Our allies fear Britain is retreating from the world. We must put them right When you’re Foreign Secretary and our armed forces are in action around the globe you meet a lot of generals. To my mind you meet too many of them, since our habit has been to rotate the top brass in Iraq or Afghanistan every year, instead of telling the best general to go there and stay there till he has won. Yet General Sir Nick Carter, who spoke on Monday evening about the need to keep up with potential adversaries, stands out in my mind from visits to bunkers in Helmand, because he particularly seemed to know what he was doing. – Lord Hague for the Telegraph (£) Peter Foster: Why the EU customs union issue is threatening to rip Tory party apart Who will win the argument? This is the pressing question of the hour. Brexiteers are digging in for a political fight that they believe goes to the very ideological heart of Brexit. They are opposed by remainers and softer Brexiteers who argue for a ‘lily-pad’ or step-by-step approach that warns that if Brexit goes to fast, and is too costly, the public will lose confidence in the Brexit project altogether. The ‘purists’ will have to convince the ‘pragmatists’ that they really can ‘deliver the goods’ on trade, if the UK is going to put up so many barriers to the EU’s single market. An intense battle for the ‘soul’ of Brexit is now under way. – Peter Foster for the Telegraph (£) Sebastien Kurzel: Irrespective of Brexit, we must support our Mittelstand The Brexit negotiations are moving into the second phase. Whatever the outcome, the Government needs to make sure it supports Britain’s mid-sized exporting businesses – the UK’s Mittelstand. As a country, our Government spends a significant amount of time and resource supporting multinationals and start-ups, which is important, of course. But it needs to invest the same amount of energy in supporting our home-grown exporting successes. – Sebastien Kurzel for CommentCentral Brexit in brief Bregrets? they’ve had a few… but tough luck, Remainers, the majority still wants to leave – Matthew Goodwin for the Telegraph (£) Post-Brexit, we need to be the world’s smart power nation. Let’s make it happen. – Bob Seely MP for ConservativeHome Matthew Hancock: Tech’s ally in Brexit storm – Annabelle Dickson for Politico The City can keep top billing by focus on listings – Gerard Lyons for the Times (£) Small business bonanza after Brexit – Robert Bates of Get Britain Out for The Commentator We will need more than two years of transition after Brexit – Hugo Dixon for the Times (£) Irish border after Brexit: an expert on Norway-Sweden explains how to keep things smooth – Henrik Wenander for Reaction Europe is intent on regulating business out of existence – Matthew Lynn for the Telegraph (£) French customs to hire hundreds of extra staff to cope with Brexit – Reuters Backbenchers hope new poll will trigger Corbyn shift on Single Market – LabourList