Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Theresa May’s Chief Brexit Adviser Olly Robbins caught warning that MPs’ choice is her deal or a lengthy delay to Brexit Last night, I’d been reporting on the meeting at the UK Ambassador’s Residence in Brussels between Michel Barnier and Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay. They’d been joined for their dinner by their respective teams, including Olly Robbins, the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator. I saw Olly Robbins leave the dinner and walk to his taxi as my cameraman and I were preparing to report live outside for ITV News. Once we’d finished we returned to our hotel and decided to have a quick nightcap in the bar. It was then, when we walked into the bar, we realised Olly Robbins was also in the same hotel. He too was having a drink. He was with two colleagues in the bar and could be clearly overheard by other guests as he gossiped about Brexit, the cabinet and MPs. He was speaking in such a manner that you didn’t have to listen hard to hear him. But to be clear, I was hearing chunks of their conversation and not every single word. But during that conversation Olly Robbins said that, in his view, he expects the choice for MPs to be either backing May’s deal or extending talks with the EU. He expects MPs in March to be presented with backing a reworked Brexit deal or a potentially significant delay to Brexit, he told colleagues last night. “The issue is whether Brussels is clear on the terms of extension,” he was overheard saying. “In the end they will probably just give us an extension.” – Angus Walker for ITV News Has Olly Robbins revealed Theresa May’s secret Brexit plan? – Robert Peston for ITV News Back Theresa May’s deal or prepare for a long delay to Brexit, PM’s chief negotiator ‘warns MPs’ – Telegraph (£) Theresa May promises new meaningful vote after more talks with the EU… The PM said she needed “some time” to get the changes she believes MPs want. She promised to update MPs again on 26 February and, if she had not got a new deal by then, to give them a say on the next steps in non-binding votes. Mrs May promised to give MPs a “stronger and clearer role” in the next steps on Brexit and said she would return to the Commons for a meaningful vote on her deal “when we achieve the progress we need”. The PM said she was discussing a number of options with the EU to secure legally-binding changes to the backstop: Replacing it with “alternative arrangements”, putting a time limit on how long it can stay in place or a unilateral exit clause so the UK can leave it at a time of its choosing. The backstop arrangement is the “insurance” policy in Mrs May’s deal to avoid a return to border checks on the island of Ireland. The EU has reiterated it will not renegotiate the withdrawal agreement. Mrs May said talks were at a “crucial stage”, but she still believed it was possible to get a deal MPs could support. “We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House requires and deliver Brexit on time,” Mrs May told the Commons. – BBC News Theresa May tells MPs to ‘hold our nerve’ ahead of new chance to take control of Brexit – Sky News Theresa May to give Parliament another chance to vote on Brexit deal as she seeks to buy time – ITV News > WATCH: Theresa May’s statement to MPs yesterday …as she is accused by Jeremy Corbyn of ‘running down the clock’ on the Brexit talks… Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused Theresa May of “blackmail” and “running down the clock”, after the UK prime minister said that she needed more time to continue Brexit talks with the EU. With less than seven weeks to go until Britain’s scheduled departure for the EU, Mrs May declined to present a detailed Brexit plan B to parliament on Wednesday. Instead she promised that MPs would be able to vote on a way forward on February 27, if her government has failed to win approval for an exit deal with the EU before then. Many MPs argue that Mrs May is increasing the chances of a no-deal Brexit by eating into the time remaining before the UK legally leaves the EU. Mr Corbyn said that continued uncertainty meant that a recent decision by carmaker Nissan not to build a new model at its Sunderland plant could be the thin edge of the wedge. “The prime minister has just told members of this House [of Commons] to hold their nerve. Tell that to Nissan workers in Sunderland and the thousands more worried about their job security,” he said. – FT(£) > WATCH: Jeremy Corbyn’s Commons reply to May yesterday …while Brussels will reportedly help the PM drag out the Brexit negotiations until a crucial summit towards the end of March Brussels is ready to help Theresa May drag out Brexit negotiations until the end of March before offering her small legally binding assurances on the backstop. European capitals foresee a crucial summit on March 21 as a make or break moment when a last ditch compromise package will be sewn up. Leaders are mulling a two-pronged approach which would combine a “beefed up” backstop review clause with adding extra legal weight to the trade blueprint. New wording could also be inserted into the Withdrawal Agreement making stronger pledges to come up with tech solutions to the border. While the changes would make it harder to use the backstop for any length of time, they would not amount to the time-limit or exit clause demanded by MPs. Brexit secretary Steve Barclay told EU negotiator Michel Barnier at a meeting in Strasbourg yesterday the UK still wants changes to the border fix. He said: “We’re being very clear with European leaders that what Parliament needs to see is a legally binding change to the backstop.” – The Sun Brexit talks to go down to the wire as Brussels pledges last-ditch backstop compromise – Express ERG at loggerheads with Government over motion opposing a no-deal Brexit… A big row is brewing this morning over the motion that the Government has tabled for tomorrow’s full day of debate on Brexit in the Commons, which the eurosceptic MPs in the European Research Group have told government whips they cannot support. With MPs having expected a neutral, anodyne (albeit amendable) motion to be tabled, instead the Government yesterday tabled a motion that endorses the approach to Brexit as agreed by amendments passed by the Commons on 29th January… This means that MPs are being called upon to back a motion that would not only be endorsing the demand of Sir Graham Brady’s amendment for the backstop to be replaced, but also the other successful amendment of two weeks ago – from Dame Caroline Spelman – that states opposition to leaving the EU without a deal. I gather that there was a fiery meeting in the Government Whips’ Office yesterday involving leading lights of the ERG during which the Tory eurosceptics indicated that they could not support a motion that ruled out the prospect of a no-deal Brexit. – BrexitCentral …as Remainer MPs plot last-minute ambush to force Theresa May to delay Brexit day Remainer MPs are plotting a last minute ambush to force Theresa May to rule out a damaging no deal and to delay Brexit Day. A cross-party group has been holding secret talks to draw up a fresh version of an amendment tabled by Labour MP Yvette Cooper to extend article 50. The move, expected to be announced this evening, comes after the Prime Minister asked the Commons for another fortnight’s grace to continue talks with the EU. Mrs May said she needed more time but confirmed they would get another chance to have their say in votes on Brexit on February 27. But the Remainer MPs want to put her on notice that she will not be able to delay her Brexit “high noon” beyond that point. The Mirror has learned that Ms Cooper plans to table a Brexit amendment along with Tory grandee Sir Oliver Letwin today or tomorrow. But the pair are not expected to put their proposal to a vote until the end of the month – their best chance of getting it through Parliament. One source told the Mirror: “In terms of maximising Tory support for the plan, it’s clear they want to give her one final opportunity to get her deal. “So it’s likely that it will be put to a vote at the end of the month, rather than now. At that stage, there are likely to be Tory resignations over it.” Ms Cooper and Mr Letwin’s plan would remove the time limit for delaying Brexit Day from an earlier version of the amendment, which was defeated by MPs in January. – Mirror Theresa May facing fresh move by cross-party group of MPs to block no-deal – Evening Standard Martin Selmayr’s promotion broke ‘letter and spirit’ of EU law, Brussels watchdog finds The EU’s maladministration watchdog has accused the European Commission of ignoring its own rules when it appointed its most senior official last year. The European Ombudsman criticised the lightning quick double promotion of Martin Selmayr, a close ally of Jean-Claude Juncker, as secretary general of the commission last year. Mr Selmayr was promoted to deputy secretary-general of the commission at a February 21 meeting of the EU commissioners. Shortly afterwards, the secretary-general Alexander Italianer announced his retirement. Mr Juncker, the president of the commission, promptly proposed the divisive Mr Selmayr take on the role, leaving shell-shocked commissioners to rubber stamp Mr Selmayr’s second promotion in a matter of minutes. Mr Selmayr’s appointment “did not follow EU law, in letter and spirit, and did not follow the Commission’s own rules”, Emily O’Reilly, the Ombudsman said. – Telegraph (£) Jeremy Hunt asks EU for compromise to protect Irish peace Before travelling to France and Poland for talks with ministers, the Foreign Secretary raised the threats of a no-deal departure or “Brexit paralysis” if the EU and Britain were unable to strike a deal. Brussels was steadfastly refusing to budge on the “backstop” for the Northern Ireland border but Brexiteers and the Democratic Unionist Party were adamant that it must be axed or changed, or they will not back the withdrawal agreement. Seeking to prise open the deadlocked talks, Mr Hunt stated: “No one who grew up with bombs every week in Northern Ireland but also in Harrods, Hyde Park and throughout the UK could ever countenance taking a risk with peace, and nor will we. “But the best way to secure that peace is to do a Brexit deal that secures friendly relations between the UK and its neighbours. And that means sensible compromise on all sides.” – Evening Standard Mark Carney drops Project Fear as he talks up free trade potential of Brexit Britain could lead the world into a new era of democracy and free trade, using the Brexit revolt against the establishment as a springboard to making the global order more cooperative, accountable and prosperous, according to the Governor of the Bank of England. The current system of global trade has key flaws including wealth and income inequality, a lack of democracy and trust, and serious financial imbalances, Mark Carney warned on Tuesday. However, in a sharp departure from the Governor’s “project fear” warnings of the past three years, Mr Carney said Brexit has the potential to address these issues and provide the opportunity to create a new way of running the world. “In many respects, Brexit is the first test of a new global order and could prove the acid test of whether a way can be found to broaden the benefits of openness while enhancing democratic accountability,” he said. “Brexit can lead to a new form of international cooperation and cross-border commerce built on a better balance of local and supranational authorities.” – Telegraph (£) The UK’s fintech sector hits record level of investment as start-ups turn into scale-ups Investment into the UK’s blossoming fintech sector broke records last year, as the country’s startups reached a new stage in their growth journey. Venture capital and private equity investment in British fintech rose to an all-time high of $3.3bn (£2.6bn), up 18 per cent compared to 2017’s levels, according to data published today by Innovate Finance. Significantly, growth private equity investment rose 57 per cent to $1.6bn while venture capital dipped slightly, indicating the UK’s startup scene is quickly becoming a scale-up industry. The UK placed miles ahead of its European counterparts, raking in almost five times Germany’s $716m for fintech investment last year. Additionally the UK remained attractive to international investors despite the looming spectre of Brexit uncertainty, as 50 per cent of its $3.3bn investment came from overseas, namely North America and Europe. – City A.M. MI6 chief Alex Younger set to stay in post over Brexit fears The head of MI6 is expected to stay in post beyond his retirement date this year to guide the secret intelligence service through the post-Brexit period, The Times has learnt. Alex Younger, 55, is due to retire in November after five years in the role. Whitehall officials want him to extend his appointment to cover the 12 to 24 months after Britain has left the EU. If Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, confirm the extension, he will become the longest-serving MI6 chief since the 1960s. No formal decision has been made. However, Whitehall sources said that it was crucial for the heads of the security and intelligence services to stay unchanged during the period of upheaval after leaving the European Union. MI6 chiefs, known in Whitehall as “C”, traditionally serve for five years at most. However, one former senior Whitehall official said: “The five-year stint is not set in concrete.” – The Times (£) EU unveils emergency plan to keep Channel Tunnel open after a no-deal Brexit The European Commission has unveiled an emergency plan to keep trains running through the Channel Tunnel in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The EU’s executive adopted the proposal at a meeting on Tuesday, and in statement said it would help “avoid major disruptions of cross-border rail operations and shuttle services after the UK’s withdrawal”. Eurostar high-speed trains, freight, and car shuttles would continue to run even if no deal was reached, under the measures. The tunnel could provide a lifeline for the UK, which is expected to face chaos at ports due to requirements for extra customs and regulatory checks that crashing out of the bloc without a transition period or free trade agreement would entail. However, the EU says the extension for the tunnel is “strictly time limited” for three months and that it is conditional on Britain continuing to use safety standards “identical” to those of Brussels.- Independent Liam Fox scrambles to sign trade deals in time for Brexit Trade boss Liam Fox is scrambling to sign promise letters for trade deals in the future as it emerges just six will be done in time for Brexit. The government has promised to rollover 40 current EU free trade deals with 70 different countries, so they will still apply to the UK under a no deal Brexit. But a secret tally leaked to The Sun has revealed that just a handful will be ready in time when the UK leaves on March 29. Instead, the International Trade Secretary is battling to persuade dozens of other countries to carry out an exchange of “letters of understanding”. A minister told The Sun: “We’re not going to get many of the deals over the line in time now. “What we hope to have instead is letters of understanding with all the remaining countries, which will go some way to reassuring business.” The current tally drawn up by the Department for International Trade lists progress of the 40 deal rollovers in four colour-coded tables. Only six are in green table, signifying they will be done by March 29. They are the four already agreed, with Switzerland – signed on Monday – Chile, an Eastern and Southern African block, and the Faroe Islands. In addition, deals with Israel and the Palestinian Authority are “on track”. – The Sun Trimble serves legal notice on government over backstop breaking Good Friday Agreement Lord Trimble, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning architect of the Good Friday Agreement, has formally commenced legal proceedings against the Government to challenge whether the backstop is illegal under the Good Friday Agreement. Guido can reveal the formal letter sent to the Government Legal Department ahead of the Judicial Review challenge, which the Government must respond to by 22 February. The three possible defendants are identified as Karen Bradley, David Lidington or the Prime Minister herself… The case will argue that the backstop breaches two key laws – the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and the Union of Ireland Act 1800 – as well as the Good Friday Agreement itself. Under the Northern Ireland Act and the GFA, they say arrangements to avoid a hard border should have been negotiated bilaterally at the British-Irish intergovernmental conference. – Guido Fawkes Guy Verhofstadt warns Brexiteers could end up on the guillotine like the leaders of the French Revolution The incendiary claim came as billionaire investor George Soros predicted on Tuesday that Eurosceptic parties could destroy the EU after making gains in May’s European Parliament elections. Mr Soros warned that the European Union was “sleepwalking towards oblivion” and could collapse as quickly as the Soviet Union did in 1991, unless it woke the “sleeping pro-European majority” before the elections. Mr Verhofstadt attacked Conservatives who would reject attempts at forming a cross-party consensus with Labour to break the Brexit impasse in the House of Commons. “It’s completely irresponsible of the hardliners to reject such cross party cooperation because a no deal scenario is a disaster for everybody and especially for the UK,” the European Parliament’s Brexit Coordinator said in Strasbourg. “I know that in the Tory party the hard Brexiteers are compared to the leaders of the French Revolution. I think [Michael] Gove is Brissot, Boris Johnson Danton, Jacob Rees-Mogg Robespierre. He added, “But we should not forget that the efforts of these men were not appreciated by the common men they claimed to represent because they all ended up at the guillotine.” – Telegraph (£) Eastern European companies fear ‘chaos’ of no-deal Brexit Jarosław Granat has worked for Future Processing since it was a scrappy startup run from the first floor of its founder’s house in the southern Polish city of Gliwice. Now the software development company has more than 1,000 employees based in a gleaming office complex and serves dozens of blue-chip clients around the world. More than half of the company’s clients are in the UK, and Granat fears that two decades of hard work building up the business could now be put at risk by the looming threat of a no-deal Brexit. “We don’t know how Brexit will look and it could be chaos,” he said. “Very few people, including us, believe that no-deal will happen. But maybe we’re just wishing it won’t.” The company, which started life when its CEO, Jarosław Czaja, was a computer science student at Gliwice’s Silesian University of Technology, now has annual revenue of nearly PLN100m (£20m). The overwhelming majority of employees are still based in Gliwice but many travel regularly to Britain. – Guardian Telegraph: It’s no wonder Europeans hold the EU in contempt when it flagrantly ignores its own rules The EU is often called a rules-based organisation, which is ironic given the alacrity with which it breaks them. A recent example of this cavalier attitude to the regulations it imposes upon others was the appointment of Martin Selmayr as Secretary-General of the European Commission, one of the most powerful positions in the bloc. Mr Selmayr had previously been chief of staff to Jean Claude-Juncker, the Commission president, and is reputedly determined to see the UK suffer for having the temerity to vote for Brexit. The German’s elevation to such a key post last year was a surprise, not least because no one else appeared to have been considered for the role. An investigation by the EU ombudsman has now found that the appointment “did not follow EU law, in letter or spirit, and did not follow the Commission’s own rules”. Yet it seems there are to be no consequences for this blatant piece of favouritism, other than to request the Commission to look again at their appointments procedures. It is hardly surprising that disdain for the EU as an institution and for its practitioners is growing across the continent. This will be evident in the elections to the EU parliament in May when populist parties are expected to gain significant ground, though doubtless even that shock will be ignored by the powers-that-be in Brussels. – Telegraph (£) editorial Lee Rotherham: Preparing for No Deal does not mean the sky is about to fall in Despite our long addiction to a free and purple press, a gluttonous surfeit has taken Brexit coverage to a fairly prickly place. Things have come to such a pretty pass that the more hysterically anti-Brexit papers now cover, to their own surprise, reports that the world will not collapse in April in the event of a No Deal scenario. A recent report from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research indicates that withdrawal through No Deal and into a WTO environment would be heavily mitigated by contingency plans currently being prepared in both Whitehall and Brussels. Ministers could then further reduce the impact by introducing business-friendly policies so that, while there was still an economic consequence from the changes, a recession could be avoided. Neither of these two prospects, nor the end consequence, should be a surprise. Notwithstanding the political decision to suppress talk of No Deal planning prep (especially supported by sections of the Treasury that are happy with squatting in both a customs and a regulatory union), a lot of work has in fact been done across Whitehall to cushion transition. Even the European Commission, seemingly unprompted by anyone on the UK side, in December published its own list of areas where it was prepared to declare transitional contingency plans that merely required reciprocation to take effect. Project Fear Banter has become so hyperventilated these days that the monarch is practically already in her back garden waiting to be airlifted from Mad Max Britain. – Lee Rotherham for CapX The Sun: Theresa May must not flinch and allow Remainers to force a Brexit delay that benefits only the EU If a Brexit game-changer is coming on March 21, Theresa May must stop Labour — and Tory Remainers — from throwing in the towel first. Talk in Brussels is of a last-minute compromise, perhaps enough to get the PM’s deal over the line. They know No Deal will damage them, Ireland especially. They want the agreement to work. But we must not blink. If Labour and Tory Remainers, even some in the Cabinet, approve a delay to Article 50 and seize control from the PM on February 27 it only has upsides for the EU. It can then wait for a much softer Brexit, or none. Tories, on both party wings, should know this: Every alternative to Mrs May’s deal, with appropriate legal adjustment to the Irish backstop, ends in potential catastrophe for their party. Their poll leads over Labour will vanish if Brexit is substantially delayed. They will go into a full-throttle reverse if a second referendum gets the nod. Likewise a feeble “Norway-Plus” non-Brexit or a permanent, restrictive customs union. Or indeed if there’s No Deal chaos, for which they will be blamed. Mrs May, for her country and party, must face down the threats from all those losing their bottle as the clock ticks down to our exit on March 29. – The Sun says Laura Kuenssberg: Will Theresa May delay MPs’ vote to last minute? While ministers speak publicly of “talks” that must be given time to be completed with the EU, and officials continue to chew over the possibility of the “Malthouse compromise” (remember that? It already seems like months ago that it emerged, blinking, into the Brexit saga) more and more MPs believe it is displacement activity – ministers keeping outwardly busy while they run down the clock. Early on Tuesday morning, Commons leader Andrea Leadsom did not exactly quash that notion in an interview with the Today programme. She appeared to open up the possibility that MPs might in the end be asked to vote at a moment of peak jeopardy, and that ministers might be willing to let the matter run that long. Then, on Tuesday afternoon, the prime minister herself hinted that the government was prepared to do that. She was answering a technical question about the CRAG (the constitutional reform and governance bill before you ask, Brexit is nothing if not replete with acronyms). For ages, the existence of that bill has built a theoretical pause between a vote on the deal, and our actual departure from the EU. But today the prime minister said that process could be put on fast forward. So, in practice, if she wants to push this vote later, and later, then only to the very last minute (and remember the EU doesn’t want to budge until then), that bit of legislation might not be a block, because if MPs approve it, she can get round it. That’s always a big if, of course, but it certainly suggests that the government can at least foresee a situation where they have to take dramatic last-minute action, whatever the existing law says. – Laura Kuenssberg for BBC News Ruth Dudley Edwards: Lord Trimble’s challenge will hopefully throw a legal spanner in the works of backstop plan With Lord (David) Trimble as the leading claimant, along with, so far, Lord (Paul) Bew, UUP councillor Jeff Dudgeon and me (under the banner of The Belfast Agreement Defence Group) a letter has gone to the British Government requesting a judicial review of the backstop in the proposed Brexit withdrawal agreement. The objective is to persuade the British and Irish Governments to honour the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement by dealing with the issue of a hard border, that no responsible person wants, by sorting out alternative arrangements through the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. The argument has been coherently and intelligently constructed by good legal minds who actually know what they’re talking about (including Lord Trimble and barrister Dr Austen Morgan, author of The Belfast Agreement: A Practical Legal Analysis). It is late – but not too late – in the day to try to save us from the worst possible result for everyone in the United Kingdom, other than those who would be happy for us to be trapped as EU vassals in a farcical set-up that is in the interests only of those who want to frustrate the results of the referendum. I care passionately about the importance to democracy in the United Kingdom of not letting down Leave voters who are now questioning if their votes mattered at all. At best, we will throw a legal spanner in the words leading to a destructive backstop. At worst we have given the Government ammunition to fight a permanent imposition. – Ruth Dudley Edwards for the Belfast Telegraph John Crace: Inertia-gripped May lets the clock keep ticking Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. With just 45 days to go until the UK leaves the EU, the government still has no idea on what terms a deal – if any – can be reached. Nor does anyone seem particularly bothered. We are now in a world where the prime minister can rewrite history, Gavin Williamson can declare war on China, Chris Grayling has mystic visions of non-existent ferries and no one bats an eyelid. Shares in Mogadon have rocketed as parliament sleepwalks towards Brexit. Theresa May couldn’t believe her luck. At the very least, she had expected some grief for having missed yet another essay deadline. But everyone appeared to have forgotten she had missed the previous deadline. And the one before that. And the one before that. Even better, no one even asked her if she had made any progress since the last deadline she had missed. Which was just as well because she hadn’t made any. Instead, in her latest statement to the Commons on what she hadn’t been doing to push the Brexit peanut forward, the prime minister was allowed to get away with reading out a letter she had written to Jeremy Corbyn some days earlier about how – sucks teeth – everything was very tricky but though she really, really cared about workers’ rights – yawn – she couldn’t possibly agree to a customs union as the ERG wouldn’t go for it. So thanks, but no thanks. – John Crace for the Guardian Bernard Ingham: The EU will blink first if we hold our nerve on Brexit – here’s why Fellow Brexiteers, be not alarmed about your fate. This is par for the EU course as we approach the last tee of Brexit. It usually comes more or less right in the end, though it may not emerge until the eve of March 29 when we are due to leave. The EU’s approach to Brexit is entirely understandable. Nothing would soothe their troubled breasts more than frustrating our contracting out of their entirely undemocratic attempt to build a United States of Europe or making life difficult for us. Some would say they have so far succeeded and that the arrogance of Tusk, Jean-Claude Juncker, Michel Barnier, French President Emmanuel Macron and to some extent German Chancellor Angela Merkel is proof that they think they have got us where they want us. It is a grave delusion. Indeed, I suspect that deep down they know that by March 29 they will have to cobble together a reasonable divorce settlement or be condemned for their irresponsibility in a fragile world. Theresa May’s task is to stick with demanding they stop messing about and come up with a clean break with the minimum of disruption. Call me what you will, but deliver. Britain has long borne an expensive cross in the form of what has become the EU and historically I am sure Mr Tusk’s special place in hell will be reserved for them, not Brexiteers, if they mishandle our departure. – Sir Bernard Ingham for the Yorkshire Post Brexit in Brief Deal or no deal, both Labour and the Tories will split over Brexit – Rafael Behr for the Guardian The EU looks like the Soviet Union in 1991 – on the verge of collapse – George Soros for the Guardian MPs criticise Chancellor over Brexit ‘deal dividend’ claim – FT(£) EU citizens’ children could lose right to stay in UK, claims Yvette Cooper – Independent