World leaders send their support after terror attack in Westminster President Francois Hollande expressed his “solidarity” with the British people, saying “terrorism concerns us all and France knows how the British people are suffering today”… German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country saw a lorry attack in December that killed 12 people in Berlin and was also claimed by IS, said her thoughts were “with our British friends and all of the people of London… I want to say for Germany and its citizens: we stand firmly and resolutely by Great Britain’s side in the fight against all forms of terrorism,” she added. US President Donald Trump spoke by phone to British Prime Minister Theresa May to offer his condolences and to praise the effective response of UK security services. – BBC News European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the attack left him “highly emotional”. In Brussels to commemorate the one-year anniversary of attacks on the main airport and a metro station, Mr Juncker said “the fact that exactly on the same day something similar happened in London, and to London, is really putting me in the situation of someone who does not have…enough words to express how I am deeply feeling.” Donald Tusk, the European Council President, said on Twitter: “My thoughts are with the victims of the Westminster attack. Europe stands firm with the UK against terror and ready to help”. – Daily Telegraph How newspapers around the world covered the devastating terror attack – Daily Telegraph Theresa May set to lead Parliament in show of defiance today as Houses refuse to bow to terror – Daily Telegraph Theresa May’s speech in full: ‘Evil will not drive us apart’ – Huffington Post EU’s Brexit chief negotiator Michel Barnier sets collision course over divorce bill He said the first issue to tackle, in what he hoped would be an “orderly withdrawal”, was to end uncertainty over the fate of 4.5 million EU citizens in Britain and vice versa by determining their residency rights. But Mr Barnier said Britain would have to pay for its previous financial commitments to Brussels before any talks could begin on the future, which he hoped would include a new free trade deal. While he declined to put a number on the sum of money to be requested, EU officials have previously pointed to figures of up to £52bn. Commenting specifically on the issue of a divorce bill for the UK, he added: “Each country must honour its commitments to each other. When a country leaves the union, there is no punishment. There is no price to pay to leave. But we must settle the accounts. We will not ask the British to pay a single euro for something they have not agreed to as a member. – Sky News Key messages from speech by EU’s Brexit negotiator – Reuters/Daily Mail EU Brexit negotiator warns of dire scenario for UK if talks fail – Politico Tory MPs urge Theresa May to ignore EU threat to take Britain to the International Court if we refuse to pay a £50billion Brexit bill – The Sun EU’s chief negotiator challenges Theresa May over walking away with no deal from Brexit talks – The Guardian EU puts citizens’ rights first as it sets Brexit talk conditions – Reuters A glimpse at EU member states’ guidelines for the Brexit negotiations – Pieter Cleppe for Open Europe EU’s goal in Brexit talks: divorce first – David M. Herszenhorn for Politico Britain may have big Brexit bill to settle with EU Investment Bank Britain’s bill for settling its financial position with the European Investment Bank after Brexit may be costly, the EIB’s chairman said on Wednesday, calling for “civilised” divorce talks that could avoid such an outcome. The cost could amount to as much as 65 billion euros ($70 billion), by some estimates. That would be be above and beyond any other monies due to the European Union… Britain has in theory a right to receive a 16.1 percent share of the bank’s capital once it leaves the EU, a report of the British House of Lords said in March, estimating that the British claim could be 10.19 billion euros ($11.02 billion), out of the bank’s 63.3 billion euros of funds. But Britain is also liable to cover its portion of the bank’s debt, which amounts to 469 billion euros, EIB President Werner Hoyer said in a hearing at the economic affairs committee of the European Parliament. – Reuters/Daily Mail London Taxi Company opens £300m electric black cab factory in Coventry The opening of a new car factory in Coventry is a signal of China’s confidence in the UK post-Brexit, its owners have said. The plant at Ansty in the West Midlands will produce thousands of electric vehicles from later in the year, following a £300m investment by its Chinese owners Geely… Writing for The Telegraph, Li Shufu, chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, said: “China continues to see the UK as a hub for innovation in new energy technology, for manufacturing expertise and for skills. This plant, and the related investment, is just one symbol of my own and the wider Chinese confidence in the UK.” – Daily Telegraph China-built taxi factory in Coventry shows Britain is a base for innovation – Li Shufu for the Daily Telegraph (£) Owen Paterson: The EU nearly killed our fishing industry, Brexit is our chance to see it flourish again Nothing has better come to symbolise the destructive power of the EU, as it became, than the ruination of the British fishing industry. Imagine the outcry there would have been if 40 years of EU membership had more than halved the output of our manufacturing industries or decimated the City of London. We would have quit years ago… So how do we go about putting our fishing industry back on its feet? First, as we exit the EU in 2019, we also withdraw from the CFP and, invoking the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, restore our historic fishing limits… Secondly, we have to scrap the pernicious CFP quota system and in doing so, end the practice of “discards”. – Owen Paterson MP for the Daily Telegraph (£) The Brexit opportunity – a new fishing policy – John Redwood’s Diary Michael Burrage: The evidence supports May’s decision to junk Single Market membership The benefits of Single Market membership have been wildly exaggerated, along with the disadvantages of WTO membership. Cheerleaders for the EU intend to go on doing so. But the experience of 14 countries trading with the EU under WTO rules, and the UK’s own experience trading with 111 countries under those same rules, should reassure UK negotiators. Obviously, they will be seeking as much free trade as possible, but if the EU chooses to impose unacceptable conditions, the hard, incontrovertible evidence in international databases is telling them that it is quite OK to walk away. – Michael Burrage for ConservativeHome Nothing to fear: EU trade benefits are ‘largely imaginary’, says Civitas think tank – Daily Express It’s Quite OK to Walk Away – Michael Burrage report for Civitas Hjörtur J Guðmundsson: Britain is right to reject EEA membership: As an Icelander, I should know By leaving the EU but remaining in the EEA, Britain would continue to be subject to both the EU integration process, and thus decisions made by the European Court of Justice and the European Commission, albeit indirectly, as well as trade barriers caused by EU legislation. I assume the majority of British voters were rejecting these things in the EU referendum last year, so it is quite hard to see how continued EEA membership would fulfil what the people voted for. Coming from a country with a long experience of the EEA while outside the EU, I simply cannot recommend that path to Britain, either as a temporary transitional arrangement, as some have suggested, or as a permanent one. As the late Milton Friedman put it: “Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government programme.” – Hjörtur J Guðmundsson for City A.M. Dan Hannan: The EU left us no choice but Brexit – yet we must remain friends The EU is incapable of reform. It demonstrated its incapacity beyond doubt during David Cameron’s attempted renegotiation. Until then, British opinion polls were finely balanced when people were offered a binary choice. Throw in a middle option, though – a looser form of membership – and it consistently attracted 70 per cent support. Had Mr Cameron been able to come back with such a deal, had he been able to recover just one or two powers, and thereby set a precedent, he’d almost certainly have won. Britons concluded that the looser deal they had always wanted – a common market, not a common government – was not on offer to members. So they decided to seek it from the outside. – Daniel Hannan MEP for the Daily Telegraph (£) Brexit comment in brief Since Corbyn won’t provide an adequate opposition, I’m delivering my own Brexit Bill – Tim Farron MP for The Independent >Tim Farron successfully introduces bill to force second referendum on Brexit deal – Daily Mirror Poll shows public and Government agree over Brexit – Stephen Pollard for the Daily Express Put Brexit first and reject a new general election – Joseph Hackett for Reaction Michel Barnier’s Brexit dream team: Who’s who in the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator’s task force – Quentin Ariès for Politico How Brexit hits EU external action – Thomas Henökl for EurActiv A Franco-German bargain to save Europe – Philip Stephens for the FT (£) There are no certainties about the size of the City banker Brexodus – Francine Lacqua for City A.M. Brexit news in brief Graduates propel decline in number of EU workers in Brexit Britain – FT (£) UK-based airlines told to move to Europe after Brexit or lose major routes – The Guardian Firms from fashion to aviation face a Brexit hit if no trade deal, says House of Lords report – Sky News UK lawyers and accountants ‘could be banned from EU work’, claim Lords – The Independent >What will Brexit mean for the UK airline industry? – Bradley Gerrard for the Daily Telegraph Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell to join pro-EU ‘New European’ paper – Politico Lord chief justice attacks Liz Truss for failing to back article 50 judges – The Guardian UK curry restaurants feel betrayed by Brexit – AP/Daily Mail Calls for Eurogroup chief Dijsselbloem to be sacked after claiming southern European countries blew all their money on ‘drinks and women’ before having to be bailed out – The Sun Juncker seeks to cement “social Europe” pillar in Rome – Politico EU expansion dreams fade as Britain’s exit looms – FT (£)