• Labour calls for MPs to vote on Brexit options (FT): Labour put forward an amendment seeking to force the government to give parliament time to consider and vote on options to prevent a no deal exit including a customs union with the EU, and “a public vote on a deal”. “It is time for Labour’s alternative plan to take centre stage, while keeping all options on the table, including the option of a public vote,” said Mr Corbyn, who put his name to the amendment. It was the first time the Labour leadership had put forward in parliament the possibility of a second vote, which was welcomed by some opponents of Brexit. Mr Corbyn’s aides were careful to insist that the party was not calling for another plebiscite. Rebecca Long-Bailey, shadow business secretary, told the BBC’s Today programme on Tuesday morning: “It’s not stating that the party supports a second referendum.” Tory MPs who back a second referendum, whose support would be needed for the amendment to pass, have so far rejected Mr Corbyn’s amendment, arguing it does not go “far enough”. Heidi Allen confirmed there was “no chance” she would support it, while Anna Soubry said in a tweet that it failed to meet even Labour’s party conference policy. “Our country is crying out for leadership and a way through #BrexitCrisis and no one party is providing either,” she said. Chuka Umunna, a leading Europhile Labour MP, said “supporting ‘options’ is not a credible or sustainable policy”.
  • No deal Brexit ‘means hard border’ – European Commission (BBC): It is “obvious” there will be a hard border in Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the European Commission’s chief spokesman has said. Margaritis Schinas made the comments at the commission’s daily media briefing. If he was pushed to speculate what might happen in a no-deal scenario, he said, it was “pretty obvious you will have a hard border”. However, the Irish government has repeated its stance that it will “not accept a hard border on this island”. In a statement, the office of Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar said: “Regardless of Brexit, the British government will always have responsibilities as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement to ensure that, even in a no deal, there will not be a return to a border.” Speaking later in the Dáil (Irish parliament) Mr Varadkar said the Irish government would have “a real dilemma” if the UK leaves without a deal. Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has described Mr Schinas’s comments as “a lot of bluff”. The party’s Brexit spokesman, Sammy Wilson, said he believed the EU was trying to “up the ante” as the Brexit deadlock continues.
  • EU parliament to start ratifying Brexit deal next week (Reuters): The European Parliament expects to start next week its procedure to endorse the Brexit deal negotiated between the bloc and London, lawmakers said on Tuesday, despite the fact that Britain is still struggling to finalise the divorce agreement. “Hopefully, at the end of January we will start our procedure,” lawmaker Danuta Hubner said on Tuesday of the parliamentary consent necessary for the deal to take effect. She expected the Brexit deal to be referred to the European Parliament next Wednesday-Thursday so the lawmakers can finalise their ratification by the Brexit date of March 29. The parliament’s Brexit pointman, Guy Verhofstadt, told the same session on Tuesday that starting the process would send an important signal. “This means there is no renegotiation possible for us of the Withdrawal Agreement. If there is renegotiation possible, it’s only the Political Declaration in which we have nothing against a more deep future relationship between the EU and the UK,” he said.
  • StanChart CFO says second referendum ‘a way forward’ to break Brexit stalemate (Reuters): Speaking to Reuters at the Global Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, Andy Halford, CFO of Standard Chartered, said there was a “reasonably compelling argument” for handing back decision-making power to the people, in view of Prime Minister Theresa May’s failure to unite warring politicians behind her controversial EU divorce deal. “The Houses of Parliament are there democratically to represent the people and therefore ostensibly the decision should lie with them,” Halford said. “However, in a situation where there is a gridlock in that body … going directly to the people and hearing exactly what the people would want to do now that they have had two more years of information being fed to them — that has a strong argument for being a way forward,” he added. German and European regulators have granted StanChart permission to convert its Frankfurt branch into a fully-fledged subsidiary, to mitigate the impact of the loss of critical “passporting” rights which enabled non-EU banks headquartered in Britain to do business across the single market.
  • Pets at Home considers stockpiling inventory ahead of Brexit (FT): British pet supplies retailer Pets at Home “may consider” buying £8m worth of extra stock “as we approach our financial year end and monitor the Brexit process”. The group’s statement that it will build its inventory earlier than usual comes as Brexit-related stockpiling has increased the cost of storing goods in UK warehouses. Retailers and manufacturers are guarding against the possibility of a no-deal outcome that could cause gridlock at ports and chaos in cross-border trade. The CBI, Britain’s biggest business lobby group, has warned that a no-deal Brexit “cannot be managed” and would have a huge negative impact on companies and the economy.