Government faces probable defeat in Lords today over putting rights for EU nationals in Article 50 Bill Time and again Theresa May has said that she wants them to have “reciprocal rights” – to be allowed to stay and live as they wish – as long as Brits abroad get the same entitlements. And time and again, she has said she wants to settle the issue early in the Brexit negotiations, and is hopeful of doing so. Ministers have stopped short of giving a firm guarantee though. That’s what peers want, and a Labour amendment with support from peers from all parties will push for exactly that. And it seems there is enough support in the House of Lords to back the plan. – BBC Rudd sent a letter to peers on Tuesday in an effort to persuade peers not to vote against the government, insisting that there was no question of treating European citizens with “anything other than the utmost respect”. She said that their status would be the top priority once negotiations were underway but argued that the government could not act unilaterally over the issue because it would risk the status of British people living across the continent. They could end up facing two years of uncertainty if any urgency to resolve their status were removed by the UK making a one-sided guarantee,” she said. – The Guardian Britain has ‘moral duty’ to promote Gibraltar’s voice in Brexit talks, say peers – Daily Express Boris Johnson hits back over Sir John Major’s Brexit warnings… The foreign secretary pitched the country’s departure from the EU as an opportunity to embrace globalisation in a speech to the British Chambers of Commerce conference today. It comes the day after Sir John urged Theresa May to “face down” her party’s most ardent Brexiteers or inflict the costs of a hard Brexit on those least able to afford them. Although he did not name the former prime minister, Mr Johnson prefaced his address with an attack on those “droning and moaning”. – The Times (£) Boris Johnson – Brexit presents an “unrivalled opportunity” – Daily Telegraph The problem with Sir John Major’s big speech on Brexit? He’s wrong – Iain Martin for Reaction UK’s eurocrat says Brexit won’t harm intelligence power & rubbishes Major’s ‘sour’ claim – Daily Express > Jacob Rees-Mogg today on BrexitCentral: Sir John Major’s negative and defeatist Brexit speech re-opened wounds he claimed he wanted to be healed … and urges business leaders not to let ‘globalisation’ become a dirty word The Foreign Secretary has launched a defence of economic globalisation, arguing that opposition to global free markets “makes no economic sense”. In a speech to business leaders on Tuesday Boris Johnson said Britain should not let ‘globalisation’ is become a “boo-word” in the political lexicon – as other countries erect tariff and trade barriers. Mr Johnson’s warning comes despite his own government’s move to pull out of the single market and Theresa May’s pledge to cut off the free movement of people from the continent. – The Independent Brexit secretary David Davis says UK must prepare for chance of no deal with the EU Davis described the UK leaving the EU without a trade deal as an “unlikely scenario” but warned the UK must prepare for the failure to negotiate a deal, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said, according to Reuters. Davis reportedly emphasised the need for a “smooth exit” from the EU to other members of the Cabinet, while describing the meeting as the UK’s “most important peacetime operation.” – City A.M. Jean-Claude Juncker to present post-Brexit EU white paper today European Union chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker will present a white paper to the European Parliament on Wednesday on options for shoring up unity once Britain launches its withdrawal process, a spokesman said. The European Commission president wants some states to be able to deepen cooperation further and faster without the whole bloc having to follow suit. This idea has raised concerns, especially among poorer eastern countries, that their richer neighbors may use Brexit to cut EU subsidies to them. – Reuters The “four or five scenarios” Juncker has in mind for EU integration after Brexit – Pieter Cleppe for Open Europe Politico’s assessment of the White Paper: Don’t make promises you can’t keep – Politico Nigel Farage claims fishing is being used by Government as Brexit ‘negotiating chip’ Brexit could cut the cost of fish and chips while dramatically boosting the UK fishing industry if Britain seizes the opportunity to take back control of our seas, campaigners said today. Industry leaders backed by Nigel Farage warned the Government not to betray the sector’s hopes of a massive Brexit boost by squandering their chance to tear up European Union catch rules. – Daily Express Dyson shrugs off Brexit fears with massive UK expansion plan Dyson, the technology company, is to undergo a dramatic expansion in the UK by opening a new 210 hectare (517 acre) campus as part of a £2.5bn investment that will support its development of new battery technologies and robotics. The company, led by the billionaire inventor Sir James Dyson, will increase its UK geographical footprint tenfold by developing the campus on a former Ministry of Defence airfield and intends to at least double its workforce of 3,500 over the next few years.The new facility in Hullavington, Wiltshire is part of a £2.5bn investment by Dyson in new technologies and will focus on research and development. – The Guardian Triple boost for Brexit Britain: Dyson, Chinese skyscraper bid and new Expedia jobs – Daily Mail Nissan boss tells MPs there’s no better place than Britain to manufacture cars A Nissan boss told MPs yesterday there was no better place to build their X Trail car in Europe than Britain – despite it being clobbered with a 10% tariff. Vice President Colin Lawther told the powerful Commons International Trade Committee it was still “very profitable” to export the X Trail to the US even with the levy. – The Sun The Japanese firm was at the centre of a political row last year after revealing it had received “support and assurances” from ministers about its future in the UK… Nissan Europe’s senior vice president Colin Lawther confirmed the company had not been offered any money as part of the talks with ministers.“Compensation in terms of what the CEO said I think was misinterpreted. There was no money connotation in terms of compensation,” he told the International Trade Committee. – PoliticsHome EU budget chief says Germany will have to cover Brexit black hole Brussels’ budget chief has today insisted that it will be up to German taxpayers to shoulder the burden of paying for the EU after Britain leaves the bloc in 2019. Gunther Oettinger said eurocrats need even more money to tackle growing crises like migration and the fight against terror at a time when the EU is losing its third largest net contributor. He warned that the massive loss of cash set to be unleashed by Brexit cannot be offset by cuts to the ballooning Brussels budget and will have to be made up by the bloc’s richer countries instead. – Daily Express George Osborne claims Leaving single market may be ‘biggest act of protectionism in history’ Withdrawing from the single market without a trade deal would be “the biggest single act of protectionism in the history of the United Kingdom”, George Osborne has warned. In a forthright attack on the Prime Minster, the former Chancellor said making trade deals with other countries around the world would not make up for the loss of trade caused by a hard Brexit that saw Britain slide out of the trade bloc. – The Independent > On BrexitCentral in November: Kwasi Kwarteng MP on why continued membership of the single market is just the EU under another name Voters in EU’s newest member states don’t want to join the euro Voters in the European Union’s newest member states do not want to see their countries join the troubled euro, a shock poll finds today. Populations in Poland, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, as well as those in established non-eurozone countries Sweden and Denmark, have overwhelmingly rejected the single currency. And people in Hungary and Croatia are only narrowly in favour of joining, despite being broadly supportive of EU membership overall. –Daily Express Firms bidding for government contracts asked if they back Brexit Liam Fox’s Department for International Trade (DIT) has inserted a clause into advertisements inviting tech companies to bid for work, saying that in order to have the right “cultural fit” for the task, they must “be committed to the best possible outcome for the United Kingdom following its departure from the European Union”. Pro-Brexit ministers have sometimes been frustrated by civil servants’ lack of enthusiasm for the complex task of unpicking Britain’s close relationship with the EU and appear to be determined to hire firms that share their optimism. -The Guardian Brexit ministers snub Holyrood committee Holyrood has been denied the chance to question UK Brexit ministers before negotiations to leave the EU begin. David Davis, the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, had previously pledged to appear before the Scottish Parliament’s European Committee. He later offered his junior minister David Jones instead, who The Courier can reveal has turned down a proposed appearance in front of MSPs. – The Courier Mobile phone roaming charges won’t go up after Brexit Vittorio Colao, the chief executive of Vodafone, which operates networks in Germany, Spain and Italy as well as the UK, said claims that Britain’s decision to leave the European Union will lead to the reintroduction of large bills for calls and texts from abroad were “not very logical”. Speaking at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Mr Colao said: “We treat Switzerland, which is not part of the EU, as part of it so why would we not treat the UK that way?” … Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, claimed mobile bills would be an example of Brexit “hitting consumers in the pocket”. – Daily Telegraph Philip Johnston: The House of Lords should face the facts: Brexit is now unstoppable Abit like London buses, former prime ministers appear in pairs. Just as one turns up another follows close behind to tell the British people what a hash they made of things on June 23 last year. Tony Blair and Sir John Major spoke a week apart but seem to have timed their interventions to coincide with the debate in the Lords over the legislation to trigger Article 50 and begin the process of leaving the EU. – Philip Johnston for the Daily Telegraph Shanker Singham: It is vital that we get beyond these simplistic and binary views of Brexit The first issue we need to overcome is the conflation of membership of the single market and access to it. These are different things. No right thinking person is suggesting that the UK does not want access to the single market. In fact, all countries have access to it and free trade agreements with the EU, such as the one proposed by the Prime Minister would deliver even greater levels of access. While membership in the single market currently provides the UK with the opportunity to trade goods at a zero-tariff rate across the EU, free trade agreements provide the same benefits. EEA membership also allows the easy sale of services across borders. Shanker Singham for Reaction Daniel Hannan MEP: Remainers don’t get it — Brexit isn’t an event, it’s a process to free us of pointless EU rules There’s a popular refrain among half-clever Remainers that goes something like this. “So, Leavers, you’ve got your way. Now that we can scrap all these supposedly onerous Brussels rules, which ones do you want to get rid of? Name just five – if you can!” The challenge isn’t to name five; it’s to pick which five to start with. I’d go for the “Droit de Suite” rules which have done huge harm to London’s art market; the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, which has driven a lot of business to Switzerland and Asia; the Temporary Workers’ Directive, which seriously damages our temping agencies; the REACH directive, that penalises our chemicals sector; and the rules that push up energy prices… The benefits will be cumulative rather than instant. It took a full decade before everyone realised that it would have been disastrous to have joined the euro. Give it another decade, and the only question people will ask is why we didn’t leave sooner. – Daniel Hannan MEP for International Business Times Nigel Adams MP: Britain leads the world on protecting intellectual property In asserting our place in the world outside the European Union, Great British creativity will not only be important for driving economic opportunity but also for projecting our soft power. Today, I set out the importance of intellectual property to the British economy in a debate in Westminster Hall alongside colleagues from across the political spectrum. The nation that gave the world Bowie, the World Wide Web, Grand Theft Auto, Harry Potter and the bagless vacuum cleaner has never had a problem in generating ideas. Where our musicians, writers, designers, brand owners, film makers, games makers and journalists need the help of government and colleagues in Parliament is in ensuring that they can capitalise on their creativity and talent. – Nigel Adams MP for ConservativeHome Brexit comment in brief How the Brexit vote might translate onto the next general election – Political Betting The response of the art world to Brexit continues to be monotonous – Sarah Peace for a-n Now the government has taken up the Brexit mantle, nobody can work out what UKIP stand for – The Times Leader (£) Application and Surveillance of EEA Law by UK Courts – Heinrich Nemeczek for Oxford Business Law Brexit news in brief Migration Watch backs visa-free travel for EU after Brexit – BBC Nuclear energy lawyer claims Brexit could force nuclear power stations to close – The Guardian Chancellor says Labour MP’s claims of Brexit business exodus is ‘hysterical’ – Daily Express A quarter of Irish citizens would vote to leave the EU – The Times (£) Survey suggests many European doctors consider leaving UK – Independent Cornwall wanted guarantees it wouldn’t lose £60m EU funding after Brexit, but the Government turned it down – Independent Nicola Sturgeon’s Brexit deal ‘would lead to fracturing of UK trade’ – Daily Telegraph London will continue to attract the ultra-wealthy post-Brexit – Business Times