Supreme Court Brexit case: ‘No need’ for MPs to get final say The government has urged the Supreme Court to make a decision the “ordinary man and woman” would understand in the landmark legal challenge over Brexit. Government lawyer James Eadie QC said ministers could trigger Brexit and that there was no basis for Parliament to get the final say. He faced a grilling from the 11 Supreme Court justices as he set out his case. The government is appealing after last month’s High Court ruling that MPs must be consulted before triggering Brexit. – BBC News Brexit case: what can we expect on Day 2? – Sky News As the Supreme Court’s Article 50 hearing enters its second day, does it matter if the government loses? – City A.M. Protestors and police gather ahead of Brexit hearings – Bloomberg Anna Soubry claims up to 40 Tory MPs could rebel and back Labour move to force Government to reveal plan for Brexit Up to 40 pro-European Conservative MPs are prepared to rebel against the Government and back a move by Labour to force the Government to publish its plan for leaving the European Union, a former minister has said. Labour will on Wednesday table a motion in the Commons in a bid to force Theresa May into “publishing the Government’s plans for leaving the EU” before Brexit negotiations are formally triggered in March next year. – Daily Telegraph Critics are trying to undermine Brexit negotiators, No.10 warns The Prime Minister’s official spokeswoman said the Government wanted “everyone to be coming together” to focus on getting the best results for Britain from the process. Anyone “backing the UK team” in the negotiations with the remaining 27 EU states should allow them the maximum possible flexibility, she suggested. “While others are seeming to make clear that they want to frustrate the will of the British people by slowing down the process of leaving and trying to tie the Government’s hands in negotiation, the Government is getting on with respecting what the British people decided and making a success of Brexit,” the PM’s spokeswoman told a regular Westminster media briefing. – Press Association No special Brexit deal for the City of London, warn Hammond and Davis The City of London will not get any special treatment in the upcoming Brexit negotiations, senior members of Theresa May’s Cabinet have told a group of high-profile banking and insurance chiefs. The Daily Telegraph understands that Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, and David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, told a group of City leaders that, despite accounting for 11.8pc of gross domestic product (GDP), financial and professional services is only one industry and cannot be seen to be treated differently. – Daily Telegraph Liam Fox launches UK’s bid to join World Trade Organisation as independent member Trade Secretary Liam Fox fired a shot across the EU’s bows yesterday by launching Brexit Britain’s bid to become an independent member of the World Trade Organisation. In a formal statement, the Tory said the Government was “preparing” the groundwork to split from the EU at the 164-member organisation. He said the UK was preparing a draft schedule of trading commitments – from tariffs to quotas – adding that Britain would seek to “replicate” the current obligations it has as an EU member. – The Sun Hammond and Davis meet bank chiefs to talk Brexit ‘opportunities’ Banking leaders from Goldman Sachs and HSBC were among those who met the chancellor and the Brexit secretary to discuss how to keep financial services in the UK after leaving the EU. Philip Hammond and David Davis hosted a gathering at the Shard tower on Monday, amid concern among many banks about losing “passporting” rights and the potential shock of Brexit if there is no transitional deal to cushion the impact of leaving the European Union… The government said the meeting was about the “opportunities offered by the UK’s decision to leave the EU”, with ministers saying they would feed back the insights given by City chiefs into their analysis of options for Brexit. – The Guardian UK services PMI hits 10-month high, points to solid fourth quarter growth Businesses in Britain’s dominant services sector grew at their fastest pace since January last month and the broader economy maintained momentum, even if firms have some worries about the year ahead, a survey showed on Monday. The Markit/CIPS services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) – a closely watched gauge of the services sector – rose to 55.2 in November from 54.5 in October, beating all the forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists… “The pace of UK economic growth remains resiliently robust in the fourth quarter, despite ongoing uncertainty caused by Brexit,” said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, the company that compiles the survey. – Reuters Ruth Davidson: Nigel Farage risks harming UK’s Brexit deal by ‘rubbing Europe’s noses’ in referendum result Ruth Davidson has accused Nigel Farage and Ukip of endangering the UK’s chances of getting a good Brexit deal by “rubbing Europe’s noses” in the referendum result. The Scottish Conservative leader argued that Ukip politicians who “chuckle and bray” about Brexit should “grow up”, warning that emotional as well as economic factors will influence negotiations with the EU. – Daily Telegraph Sleaford and North Hykeham voters express impatience over Brexit Zac Goldsmith and Stephen Phillips were Tory MPs with two of the most comfortable majorities in the country until they triggered shock parliamentary byelections this autumn. But the similarities between their seats – Richmond in south-west London, and Sleaford and North Hykeham in Lincolnshire – end there. While Goldsmith was ousted by Liberal Democrats riding a wave of anti-Brexit sentiment last week, voters in Sleaford, who go to the polls this Thursday, appear far from desiring a revolt against Theresa May’s march out of the EU. In fact, many in the largely rural Lincolnshire seat seem to want a hard Brexit, and they want it now. – The Guardian EU citizens living in Britain will need ID after Brexit, Rudd says Three million EU citizens living in the UK will need to have some form of ID documents following Brexit, the Home Secretary Amber Rudd has told MPs. And in a slap-down for the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, she also said foreign students are likely to remain in the Government’s target to cut immigration to the tens of thousands. The Home Secretary’s warning that Europeans living in the UK will require documentation came in reply to a question from the senior Labour MP Hilary Benn, who chairs the new Brexit Select Committee of MPs. – Sky News EU’s chief divorce negotiator to make first Brexit statement Michel Barnier is to make his first detailed public statement on Brexit since taking up the role of the EU’s chief divorce negotiator, as a senior EU source confirmed that the bill for leaving the bloc was expected to total €55bn-€60bn (£46bn-£51bn). Barnier, a former French foreign minister, has made almost no public comment since taking up his post on 1 October. Instead he has been in listening mode, touring the EU’s national capitals to sound out opinions on Brexit. – The Guardian Economy to defy Brexit fears Britain should finish the year as the fastest growing economy of seven leading nations, one of the most closely watched indicators suggests. The country’s dominant service sector has experienced its best month since January, the survey of businesses showed, defying fears of a slump in growth after the Brexit vote. Experts believe that Britain’s “resiliently robust” economy is on course to grow at 0.5 per cent in the final quarter, a period for which official data is not yet available. This beats forecasts by the Bank of England and puts Britain ahead of the rest of the G7 — the US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada. – The Times (£) Job creation in Britain’s dominant services sector has risen at its fastest pace since April – The Times (£) Iain Duncan Smith: Leave’s victory was no freak result – the political tectonic plates are shifting right across the world Overnight, the Austrian election re-run and the Italian referendum solicited quite different responses from European leaders and the European commission. Yet again those European, pro-EU voices, so volubly relieved over the result in Austria then so conspicuously muted at the Italian result, made the mistake of seeing either result as opposites when in fact they were two sides of the same coin. In a sense, the issue is not simply the result of the votes, rather the driving pressure to call to account governing elites abusing their power. – ConservativeHome William Hague: The euro has trapped poor countries like Italy in a failed experiment. It must give them an exit – or collapse Not only is it now apparent that the euro was indeed the misconceived and terrible blunder that some of us argued it was at the time. It is also becoming clear that its effects are even worse than we, its harshest critics, believed they would be… Tens of millions of people in southern Europe will increasingly find that they cannot tolerate staying in the euro, but nor can they leave it without great cost. Their anger and resentment will only intensify. The question now is whether Europe’s leaders will cling to a project that has failed even more spectacularly than its critics imagined, or have the statesmanship to provide a way out for those who conclude they have to go. The euro is going to need a financial Article 50 – a way of providing for exit, which shares the costs of leaving and gives international help to those departing a scheme they should never have joined. – Former Foreign Secretary William Hague for the Daily Telegraph (£) Richard Ekins: The High Court is badly mistaken about Article 50. To uphold its judgment would be madness The Supreme Court should allow the Government’s appeal. But it may not. In that eventuality one would expect the Government to introduce a very tightly drafted bill to Parliament, which would simply authorise triggering of Article 50. Yet it is possible that the Supreme Court might try to complicate this plan of action, whether by picking up the idea that Lady Hale floated in her recent lecture in Malaysia (that a simple Act of Parliament might not be sufficient) or by speculating that constitutional convention requires the consent of the devolved legislatures. For the Court to introduce these complications would be madness. Hopefully, in the next few days the Government persuades it to allow the appeal and to avoid making a bad situation worse. – Professor Richard Ekins for the Daily Telegraph (£) Europe is realising the extent of its tragedy; Britain must understand its own opportunity So confident was the Italian prime minister of victory that he staked his own job on the outcome. Having finally lost a bet he was sure he would win, he has become the latest establishment figure forced to acknowledge the extent of the disconnect between himself and his electorate. In this country David Cameron has already paid a similar price, but there at least the comparison ends. For while the UK has decided on Brexit and will, however tortuously, leave the straitjacket of the European Union, there is no escape in sight for Italy, or indeed for those 19 members of the eurozone who now find the common currency to be nothing short of an economic ball and chain. – Daily Telegraph Brexit comment in brief From Italy and Brexit to Trump, don’t blame every electoral upset on “populism” – Gemma Acton for City A.M. What’s next for Italy and Europe after Matteo Renzi resigns? – Peter Foster and Andrea Vogt for the Daily Telegraph The Supreme Court ruling is just the start of the Brexit story – Frederick Wilmot-Smith for the Evening Standard Scotland – and how the Supreme Court could pave the way for a general election – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome From Italy and Brexit to Trump, don’t blame every electoral upset on “populism” – Gemma Acton for City A.M. Brexit news in brief Are official GDP forecasts too gloomy? – BBC CBI finds UK companies still growing steadily despite Brexit fears – Reuters Experts predict annual record of car sales after fleet demand drives another month of growth – City A.M. ‘Almost like Remainers WANT a bad deal’ – Moaning Labour MP taken apart over Brexit – Daily Express Jeremy Hunt seeks to calm China concerns on Brexit – Reuters Theresa May ‘ambitious’ over deal with EU – BBC News Lord Howard ‘confident’ of Brexit case success – BBC News Brexit Could Be a Chance to Boost Britain’s Dire Productivity – Bloomberg