European commission president says bloc must prepare for worst outcome

The EU needs to be realistic about the state of the Brexit negotiations and is now preparing to deploy its trillion-pound budget to cushion the bloc from the prospect of a no deal scenario, the European commissionpresident has warned.

With the two sides still far apart on the “hardest issues”, just days from a crunch leaders’ summit in Brussels, Jean-Claude Juncker told the Irish parliament on Thursday he was stepping up preparations for a breakdown in talks, and even drafting plans aimed at keeping the peace in Northern Ireland.

Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen

• Lunchtime summary
• May’s press conference - Summary

5.38pm BST

Here are the main lines from Theresa May’s press conference

The government is absolutely committed to increasing airport capacity at Heathrow. This is important, it is part of our future as global Britain, and the ambitions we have as a trading nation for the future. And the foreign secretary, early next week, will be what I would describe as a living embodiment of global Britain. He will be out there showing the UK’s continued presence around the world and the work that the UK continues to do around the world, with our diplomacy, working on so many of the issues and the challenges that we face across the world today.

The reports that you have read are not correct. We will continue to be, as we have been discussing today, that leading contributor to the [Nato] alliance, but also a leading defence nation ... We will continue to contribute in a whole variety of ways across conventional, cyber and nuclear capabilities.

The United Kingdom is a leading member of the Nato alliance, a leading defence nation, and that will continue. If you look at our defence budget, we’re the second biggest defence budget in Nato, we’re the biggest defence budget in Europe, and we have committed to significant sums, £179bn of spend on new equipment over the next decade or so.

5.10pm BST

Q: How can the relationship with America be fixed?

May says it will continue. There are some issues on which we disagree, such as on the Iran nuclear deal. But in the groups in which we come together we can express our disagreements.

After leaving us in limbo for almost two years, the government could finally have ended the uncertainty for EU citizens in the UK with the unveiling of details on settled status.

Instead, we find many of the familiar lies and much of the same hollow spin we have seen far too often. Spin that continues to sell this to us as a gracious concession, “allowing” us to stay “in the country where” we “are now living”. Forcing us to apply to stay in our own home, losing rights in the process and being charged £65 for the honour – that is, after all, the essence of settled status.

Two years after the referendum, and nothing is any clearer - except that uncertainty is hitting our industries hard.

The post Freight, fruit and flights all frustrated. Thanks Brexiters! appeared first on InFacts.

Hammond will today expose May’s lie. Truth is Brexit will leave us without money for schools, homes, farmers - and looking at defence cuts.

The post It’s only Putin who’ll get a ‘Brexit dividend’ appeared first on InFacts.

Brexit often feels like two passengers furiously arguing over the destination of someone else’s car. While the government and parliament’s rows about meaningful votes and customs relationships are significant – not least for the British constitution – they distort Brexit’s bigger picture. This car is being driven not in London but in Brussels. Next week’s EU summit has received much less attention than the government’s torturous withdrawal bill, but it could produce a far greater impact.

The summit is crucial for two key reasons. First, it will determine the tone, backdrop and workload for the final months of Brexit negotiations. Despite the government’s overt ill-preparedness and frantic disarray, our withdrawal must technically be wrapped up in time for October’s European council meeting. Whatever is not agreed now must be agreed then. This leaves just 17 weeks of negotiating time, which include the arid weeks of August. A set of negative conclusions this month would represent the worst possible start.

Home Office promises online fast-track registration process with staff available to help

The government has promised to fast-track the registration process for EU citizens who want to stay in the UK after Brexit, with decisions on applications to remain in the country reduced from six months to “a matter of days”.

Unveiling details of the “settlement scheme” for EU citizens, the Home Office promised that the application process would be “short, simple and user friendly” with a default position of accepting rather than rejecting applications.

With a shambolic Brexit of worsening failures on the table, the people must march on Saturday to get a say in what happens

Theresa May lives to fight another day – then another and another. Wednesday night’s deflating slow puncture of a rebellion is a good symbol for what’s ahead: no clarity, opaque compromise, everyone claiming victory.

Yet it was an important moment as parliament secured just enough say over the final deal, with the Speaker put in charge. The Mail’s renewed assault on John Bercow over bullying allegations this morning proves its significance – but it wastes its malice, since all Speakers stand up for parliament against government steamrolling, whoever succeeds him.

Irish customs’ former Brexit chief says he looked at introducing checks on ferries

Irish customs authorities have looked at introducing “Ryanair-type” passport controls on ferries, and checks on private jets and helicopters arriving in the country after Brexit, it has been revealed.

Under the common travel area agreements between Ireland and the UK, Irish and British people are not required to show passports travelling between the two countries.

Sajid Javid says the lack of detail from the EU27 is ‘not good enough’

The government has called on EU leaders to publish concrete plans to preserve the rights of British citizens living on the continent post-Brexit.

The home secretary, Sajid Javid, said he was concerned that other EU member states have not stated how they are going to support Britons in Europe when the government has advanced plans for a new status for the estimated 3.4 million EU citizens living in the UK.

Labour missed its chance for real change after the financial crash. Now it is in danger of flunking it on Brexit

In normal circumstances, John McDonnell’s plan to shake up the Bank of England would be creating quite a buzz in Labour circles. The proposal that Threadneedle Street should have a productivity growth target as well as one for inflation would be the biggest change to the way the Bank operates since it was granted the power to set interest rates by Gordon Brown in 1997. These, though, are not normal circumstances. The political focus is on whether the government can get Brexit legislation through parliament, not on whether it is possible to give the Bank the task of raising Britain’s long-term growth rate. As the second anniversary of the EU referendum approaches, McDonnell might think it is time to move on, but the left as a whole is having trouble doing so. That’s unfortunate but indicative of a deep, and politically dangerous, conservatism.

Related: Labour to propose Bank of England remit to boost productivity

Free market for goods likely to be at cost of UK concessions on freedom of movement

Theresa May could once again be on a collision course with the Brexiter wing of her party over a controversial proposal to keep the UK in a single market for goods.

Whitehall sources said they believed free movement of goods was “100% the direction of travel” as the prime minister’s focus shifts to the next battle over Britain’s future relationship with the EU after next week’s Brussels summit.

Philip Hammond will use speech to outline a plan for striking deals outside the EU

The government plans to safeguard London’s position as the world’s leading financial centre after Brexit by signing a series of financial partnerships with non-EU countries.

Philip Hammond will use his keynote Mansion House to the City’s elite on Thursday to say that the government intends to strike deals outside of the single market that will make the UK a gateway to financial markets.

Government defeats amendment drafted by Dominic Grieve after last-minute concession

The final obstacle to the EU withdrawal bill was overcome in the Commons on Wednesday when MPs voted against the last outstanding rebel Tory amendment, but only after an eleventh-hour concession on the power of backbenchers to hold the government to account.

The attempt to secure a “meaningful vote” that could have potentially given MPs the power to stop Britain leaving the EU without a deal was defeated by 319 votes to 303.

PM has won fight over a ‘meaningful vote’ but there are more battles to come – in parliament and in Brussels

The Lords passed the Brexit bill on Wednesday night and after many months of bitter debate, it will eventually pass into law, without further amendment.

Surely the pro-EU backbencher could see it was a meaningless meaningful vote on Brexit?

Sometimes it’s the cleverest people who turn out to be the most stupid. Or certainly the most gullible. Before Dominic Grieve had spoken, the debate on parliament having a meaningful vote in the event of a no-deal Brexit had been on a knife-edge.

The government whips had feverishly patrolled the Tory benches, searching for the slightest sign of weakness in suspected rebels. David Davis had slurred his way through his opening remarks, punch-drunk and out of his depth: the Brexit negotiations have barely started and he already looks as if he has had enough. Kier Starmer had been a model of icy cool lucidity as he tore holes in what passed for the Brexit secretary’s arguments. Game on.

The prime minister’s heavily dented authority takes yet another dink

Another day, another Commons confrontation flunked. Theresa May has turned the last-minute swerve into an art form – and by persuading Dominic Grieve, if not all of his band of followers, to swing behind the government on Wednesday, she avoided yet another much-anticipated showdown.

As so often in recent days, both sides of the Brexit civil war now raging in the Tory party declared victory.

It has always been about control. Sweep aside all the baffling language, the arcane procedure, the boring technicalities of Brexit’s long and painful grind through parliament; it all comes down to the one thing Vote Leave understood with absolute clarity: that control is what matters. Brexit was originally about who has control over borders, money and decision-making, but it’s increasingly about who controls the controllers, and that’s what Wednesday’s vote was really about.

Are the people in charge, and politicians just their servants, or are those servants entitled to say something when the people seem hellbent on shooting themselves in the foot? Is the prime minister in charge of her own negotiating strategy, or is she the prisoner of a warring party and a tiny majority? And who controls what happens if she fails and can’t get a Brexit deal, or gets one parliament won’t accept?

While Westminster is hopelessly tangled in debate over “meaningful votes” and “backstops” for deals that don’t even exist yet, it is salutary to consider that, viewed from Paris or Berlin, Brexit is not going badly. It isn’t going well either, but there is at least a process and a common EU position. That cannot be said of more urgent concerns for Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, such as migration and eurozone financial stability.

Modest progress was made on both fronts when the two leaders met this week in Meseberg, near Berlin. Mrs Merkel agreed, in principle, to a common budget for the single currency and to expand the remit of the European stability mechanism. On migration, there was agreement to strengthen the EU’s external border force and create an agency to harmonise asylum rules.

Follow live updates for PMQs, health secretary statement and Theresa May’s final push to head off a ‘meaningful vote’ rebellion on Brexit

• Brexit ‘meaningful vote’: May wins after rebels accept compromise
• PMQs - Snap verdict
• What government’s ‘meaningful vote’ analysis means - Snap analysis

6.13pm BST

We’re going to close our live coverage for the evening. Thanks for reading. Here’s a recap of the afternoon summary put together by my colleague, Jessica Elgot:

We’ve managed to reach a compromise without breaking the government – and I think some people don’t realise we were getting quite close to that. I completely respect the view of my colleagues who disagree, but if we can compromise we can achieve more.

This is a disappointing result and comes after Theresa May is forced once again to try to buy off her own MPs at the eleventh hour.

Related: Brexit 'meaningful vote': May wins after rebels accept compromise

6.03pm BST

Sky News’ senior political correspondent, Beth Rigby, has this on the reaction from pro-Brexit Tory backbenchers:

This is what the head of the #ERG @Jacob_Rees_Mogg send to the Brexiteers' Whatsapp group following the #MeaningfulVote. "We now have the two laws needed in place to allow us to leave"... "govt stood firm" and remainers "behaved very decently" pic.twitter.com/kTCZFNd72r

The government has prevented a Tory rebellion in the second Commons vote on the amendment

The Lords amendment to give parliament a ‘meaningful vote’, drafted by Dominic Grieve, is defeated for a second time, after a last-minute concession.

David Davis issued a ministerial statement explaining that it would ultimately be up to the Speaker to decide whether MPs could amend the government’s plans if no deal is reached by 21 January.

With “no substantial progress” in talks, especially on Irish border, EU is stepping up work on no-deal Brexit. This would be catastrophic.

The post EU warns of ‘no deal’ and ‘no transition’ either appeared first on InFacts.

Compromise over “meaningful vote” for MPs isn’t perfect. But it’s a good enough basis for winning a campaign to get a People’s Vote.

The post Now let’s fight for a People’s Vote on Brexit deal appeared first on InFacts.

David Davis says it will be up to Speaker to decide whether MPs can amend motion

The government has backed away from confrontation with the Brexit rebels over a meaningful vote.

At the eleventh hour a written ministerial statement from David Davis explained that it would be up to the Speaker at the time to decide whether MPs could amend a motion if no deal is reached by 21 January.

MPs must not allow May to turn Parliament into rubber stamp for what comes out of Brexit talks - even a miserable deal or no deal at all.

The post It’s crunch time in battle for ‘meaningful vote’ appeared first on InFacts.

The former Conservative party leader William Hague has urged Theresa May to legalise cannabis

EU’s Brexit negotiator gives UK a reality check. Thanks to PM’s red lines, we will lose access to arrest warrant and criminal data.

The post May should fess up: Brexit will make fighting crime harder appeared first on InFacts.

Tory rebels must ready for battle, with huge pressure likely from whips, Brexit press and social media trolls ahead of crunch vote tomorrow.

The post Now is time for MPs to fight for their say on Brexit appeared first on InFacts.

Brexiters are desperate to prevent Parliament having a say over Theresa May’s Brexit deal with the EU - but their arguments are false.

The post 6 false Brexiter arguments against a ‘meaningful vote’ appeared first on InFacts.

Reckless tweets by the president linking Nato commitments to trade threatens UK security. Whatever Brexiters say, he is not our friend.

The post Trump’s Nato bluster risks all our security appeared first on InFacts.

Leave.EU boss has questions to answer about how he bankrolled Brexit and what he was doing with the Russians following weekend revelations.

The post MPs need to haul Arron Banks back for questioning appeared first on InFacts.

Tory rebels denounce what they see as an attempt to revive claim that extra money for health is one benefit of leaving the EU

It was a claim familiar to millions of voters in the June 2016 referendum on whether the UK should stay in the European Union. Emblazoned across the official Vote Leave battlebus was the suggestion that £350m this country sends to Brussels every week could be spent instead on our own National Health Service, if only we broke free and left the EU.

The figures, and the basic argument, were hotly contested at the time and have been widely ridiculed ever since. The idea that the UK would receive any Brexit dividend in the foreseeable future, to help fund public services, from an enterprise beset by so much economic risk was so dubious that even Ukip’s Nigel Farage disowned it.

The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner has today published a report warning  that “if the UK fails to reach a satisfactory Brexit deal or leaves the EU without any deal at all, the UK risks falling off a ‘cliff-edge’ in terms of certain security and UK-EU policing cooperation.”

The SNP MP Ian Blackford leaves the House of Commons after repeated clashes with the Speaker, John Bercow, during PMQs. Blackford was unhappy with the government's approach to the EU withdrawal bill. He refused to sit down, despite repeated requests from Bercow, leading to his ejection. Blackford was joined by other SNP MPs as he left the chamber on Wednesday

• SNP MPs leave the Commons after Brexit protest

The Government was forced to offer concessions to potential Conservative rebels today in order to stave off defeat on the so-called 'meaningful vote' amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill.

After three hours of questions from MPs, Banks, of the pro-Brexit Leave.EU campaign, walks out after refusing to stay any longer. Damian Collins asks for five more minutes of questions but Banks tells MPs he has a lunch appointment he doesn’t want to be late for

• Five things we learned from Arron Banks' questioning by MPs

Dr Phillip Lee MP has resigned from the Government over Brexit and said any final Brexit deal “should go to the people, once again, for their confirmation”.

The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), a transport trade union affiliated to the Labour Party, today voted in favour of supporting a People’s Vote on Brexit at their annual conference.  

People are changing their minds about Brexit. The latest polls since June 2016 now show a solid lead for those in favour of a Peoples Vote on the terms of a Brexit deal and for staying in the European Union (EU).

It has been reported Leave.EU campaign backers frequently met officials from the Russian embassy.

The decision by Labour’s frontbench to vote to only stay in the Customs Union but not in the European economic area could cost the UK £29 billion a year and more than 300,000 jobs by 2030.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has today delivered a ‘reality check’ to Brexit advocates stating, in Germany, that “we will have to give up some of the advantages of [EU] membership”.

The CBI have downgraded their forecast for economic growth for 2018 and warned that “risks remain … skewed to the downside. In particular a more disorderly outcome to EU negotiations”.

BuzzFeed News has obtained a leaked audio recording of Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, admitting that the UK may well end up with a Brexit deal that is “far worse” than what Brexit supporters had hoped for. 

In a letter to Conservative MPs this evening, the Prime Minister has claimed the choice facing the UK on Brexit is between “the unacceptable” and “the unpalatable”.

New polling by YouGov suggests just 10% of the UK public think Brexit is going well, with 73% thinking it’s going badly. That includes 70% of Leave voters.

The Foreign Office Minister and Deputy to Boris Johnson, Alan Duncan MP, has thrown the Government’s opposition to a People’s Vote into confusion after reportedly agreeing today that there could be a People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal negotiated by the Government.

The Government has published a new proposal for the so-called ‘backstop’ option for the Northern Ireland border, after a morning of tense talks between Theresa May and David Davis.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has called on MPs to back cross-party amendments to the Government’s Withdrawal Bill when it is debated next week in the House of Commons.

It has been confirmed this morning that MPs will debate amendments on the Withdrawal Bill next Tuesday and Wednesday.

There is reportedly more uncertainty today about whether or not the Brexit Secretary, David Davis, will resign over disagreements relating to the Government’s plans for the Northern Ireland so-called ‘backstop’ proposal.

Speculation has grown throughout the day that David Davis and Number 10 are locked in a fight over the so-called “backstop” on the Irish border.

Jeremy Corbyn compared Theresa May's Brexit strategy to the chaos on Northern trains, putting further pressure on the government and its lack of a clear negotiating position. The Labour leader said at PMQs: 'When it comes to Brexit, this government has delivered more delays and more cancellations than Northern rail.'

• Corbyn compares PM's Brexit strategy to Northern rail chaos

At Prime Minister’s Questions today, Theresa May failed to say when her Government’s promised ‘Brexit White Paper’ would be published. 

Chuka Umunna and Anna Soubry today attacked Labour’s new position on the Single Market for being “identical” to that of Theresa May’s Government.

The leading Conservative Brexiter has called on Theresa May to revive her no-deal threat with the EU if Brussels, he said, persisted in taking an uncompromising approach to Britain leaving. Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, Jacob Rees-Mogg expressed concern the UK was losing out in talks, suggesting the government should offer an ultimatum 

• Jacob Rees-Mogg urges May to revive her no-deal threat to Brussels

One month ago, the major pro-Europe organisations came together to launch the single combined campaign, “People’s Vote”, i.e. for the British people to have a vote on the final Brexit deal to be proposed by the Government. 

In less than a year, Britain goes over the cliff edge of departing from the EU – with a 'transition' to unknown arrangements. If regrets set in afterwards, it will be too late as we will have to re-apply under Article 49 - just as any other applicant. When those `unknown arrangements’ become somewhat clearer during negotiations this summer, “the people” may well look at the implications and decide for themselves whether they want to proceed over the cliff.

New Zealand’s prime minister tells the Guardian how her life has changed and her ambition for a can-do country. She says she appreciates still being able to do 'normal things' and says her pregnancy has given her a wider perspective: 'There's been a couple of meetings where I'll be working away, very focused on an issue, and I'll get a sharp kick in the ribcage and it's this little reminder that there's something else going on in my life'

• Full interview: Ardern on life as a leader, Trump and selfies in the lingerie department

Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, has caused concern among some Labour MPs following comments made at a Chatham House talk on Wednesday in which she appeared to suggest the Brexit divorce bill could be so vague that her party would support it. Thornberry told the audience, 'We have our six tests. If you hold up blah, blah, blah to six tests, you’ll probably pass it'

• Keir Starmer says Labour is prepared to vote down Brexit bill

The Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, Christopher Wylie, tells a Commons committee that Vote Leave 'cheating' may have swayed the EU referendum result. Wylie told MPs Vote Leave used Aggregate IQ, a 'franchise' of the data analytics firm, to target swing voters using information drawn from CA's database

• Vote Leave 'cheating' may well have swayed EU referendum result, Wylie tells MPs - Politics live

• This content is the subject of a legal complaint made on behalf of Victoria Woodcock

Shahmir Sanni, who worked for the official Vote Leave campaign, today breaks cover to raise concerns that the group behind the knife-edge 2016 vote in favour of Brexit – including key figures now working for Theresa May in Downing Street – may have broken the law by flouting referendum spending rules and then attempting to destroy evidence. 

Sanni claims that a donation of £625,000 was made by Vote Leave to an independent referendum campaign organisation called BeLeave. Sanni says that the money, which was then channeled to a Canadian digital services firm, AggregateIQ, that has links to the controversial Cambridge Analytica, violated election regulations. The donation was sanctioned by the most senior figures in Vote Leave, including campaign director Dominic Cummings and CEO Matthew Elliott

Cambridge Analytica whistleblower: 'We spent $1m harvesting millions of Facebook profiles' – video 

An exclusive interview with former Cambridge Analytica business development director Brittany Kaiser, who claims that the data analytics firm worked on a pro-Brexit campaign, despite chief executive Alexander Nix denying this to a parliamentary committee

The Labour MP and Brexit campaigner Kate Hoey tells Owen Jones she has no regrets about campaigning alongside Nigel Farage during the Brexit referendum, despite the former Ukip leader's 'Breaking Point' poster. She believes that eventually people will look back and say 'thank goodness' the UK voted to leave the EU.

Hoey and Jones discuss foxhunting, grammar schools and Momentum in an extended version of this interview

It is becoming increasingly clear that while Theresa May’s Mansion House speech may have applied some sticking plaster on the gaping wounds within the Conservative government, it fails to address vital issues on which it simply offers more unrealistic fudge.

After her speech yesterday about the Brexit negotiations, the Prime Minister was asked by a German journalist whether she thought Brexit was worth all the effort and disruption it entailed. Although British withdrawal from the EU is probably the most important national decision taken since the Second World War and it will inevitably define the success or otherwise of Mrs. May’s Premiership, she was unable or unwilling to answer this question.

The European Union started out and continues to be an organisation whose primary objective is to create a lasting peace in Europe after centuries of conflict ending in two catastrophic world wars.  

When a young official at the nascent European Parliament introduced me to Altiero Spinelli, one of the people who had spurred my interest in European integration as a student, awe turned to action. In a very small way, everyone could contribute to shaping Europe’s future, as Jean Monnet had said.

On 22 June 1948, the MV Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks carrying 492 Caribbean passengers. More followed afterwards. These migrants and descendants of migrants have played a vital role in the construction of the NHS since its creation. Without them the NHS would not have been possible. More recently Indian, Filipino and European doctors and nurses have come to the UK to ensure that our NHS continues to be the best health care system in the world.

Brexit supporters are organised and disciplined in their constantly repeated sound-bites. Almost every day you can hear the mantra “Take back control of our money, borders, laws and trade”.

The realisation that any post-Brexit transition period will leave the UK still subject to EU legislation, including modifications to such legislation and to new legislation, has given rise to the idea that Britain should extend its membership so as to serve any transition period as a voting member rather than as a “vassal state”.

New Year media reports suggest the UK Government thinks the EU27 is bluffing when chief negotiator Barnier states that UK-based banks will lose their “passports” to do business in the EU27. Instead, DexEU Secretary Davis has called for a “Canada plus plus plus” trade deal – implying that financial services will not find themselves at a disadvantage.

The age demographics of the Brexit vote in June 2016 are well-known: around 73% of young people under 24 voted to remain, compared with only 40% of people over 60. Yet it is self-evidently young people who are going to have to live longest with the consequences of Brexit, if it happens. These consequences are numerous and wide-ranging, and can be grouped into three categories: economic, social and identity.

Even during the European referendum last year it was clear that those who wished the UK to leave the European Union fell into two quite different camps, those who wanted Brexit to mark a decisive break in the economic and social life of the United Kingdom; and those who wanted Brexit to take place with minimal social and economic disruption. 

Yesterday morning, briefings from both sides in the Brexit negotiations were confidently looking forward to announcing a deal on the phase 1 “divorce” package.

I am disappointed for all those who have worked hard in Leeds, and the other contending towns, to hear this news. But there is a degree of hollowness to those in the government who are claiming this is a total surprise or a vindictive move.

I was delighted to be invited to speak at the Brexit and Agriculture event in York last week organised by the National Farmers’ Union and the European Parliament UK office. It was extremely instructive to talk with farmers, NFU officials and agriculture students about their concerns regarding the Brexit negotiations. Over the course of the event and the discussions that followed, four main themes emerged.

In his recent testimony to the House of Lords, Sir Ivan Rogers, former British Permanent Representative to the European Union, criticized as premature and ill-prepared the Prime Minister’s triggering last March of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. This is unfair to Theresa May. No different date for the beginning of the Brexit negotiations could or would have rendered them any less painful for the British participants. No amount of extra preparation on the British side before triggering Article 50 could or would have resolved the numerous internal contradictions of the Brexit project.

Time is not on the UK’s side in these negotiations: The latest ONS annual Pink Book on the UK’s balance of payments shows a further deterioration of the current account to 6% of GDP (£114 billion) in 2016.

If Brexit is going to be so great, why have so many Brexiters been opposed to the government releasing its Brexit impact assessments? Why keep them hidden away if it’s going to be glorious? And why not show the EU that we’ll do spiffingly when we leave thank you very much, deal or no deal?

It is possible to maintain an “invisible border” in Ireland after Brexit, says the head of the Swiss customs service to House of Lords Committee, IF you have:

While Britain’s dealbreakers are well known, we look at what they are for its negotiating partners. Not all are shared, yet all will play a part in any final deal

The British government’s key Brexit red lines – controlling EU immigration, ending the jurisdiction of the European court of justice, calling time on further big EU budget contributions – are by now well known, set out first in speeches by Theresa May and later confirmed in a government white paper.

But what of the EU’s red lines? Here we map the concerns, priorities and demands of each of the UK’s 27 negotiating partners. Some are shared, more or less, by all; others are strictly national. All will play a part in the deal Britain gets – because Brexit also means what the EU27 want it to mean.

Britain accused of trying to ‘move the goalposts and do away with the referee’ in Brexit negotiations

British attempts to “blackmail and divide” EU countries in the run-up to Brexit negotiations will lead to a disastrous “crash-landing” out of the bloc, European politicians have told the Guardian.

They add that the approach being pursued by Theresa May’s government will leave the UK without a free trade deal – with perilous consequences for the country.

Yes, say pro-Brexit newspapers. But they seem to have misinterpreted remarks by the German chancellor about restricting benefits for EU migrants

According to the Daily Telegraph’s front page on Wednesday, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has “signalled that she may be willing to compromise on the issue of free movement”, suggesting “in comments interpreted as a significant shift” that Britain “may be able to gain full control of its borders while retaining access to the single market”.

Pro-Brexit MPs told the paper that Merkel’s comments marked “the beginning of a new realism” among the EU-27, who have hitherto been steadfast and united in their insistence that when the UK leaves the bloc, it will not be able to both curb EU immigration and keep enhanced access to the single market.

EU diplomats say need for Westminster vote and parliamentary scrutiny on Britain leaving union may skew timetable

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Official reaction on the continent to the high court’s ruling on article 50 has been muted, with national governments and the European commission regarding the decision as an internal matter.

Related: High court says parliament must vote on triggering article 50 - Politics live

Financial policy committee warns withdrawal from the EU poses risks but will not be used to reduce regulation of banks

The vote for Brexit has created a “challenging period of uncertainty and adjustment” Bank of England policymakers have said.

In a quarterly update on the health of the financial system on Thursday, the Bank’s policy makers also said the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union would not be used as a way to reduce regulation on the banking sector.