- Queen urges people to find “common ground” (Reuters): While the queen did not mention Brexit explicitly in an annual speech to her local Women’s Institute in Norfolk, she said every generation faced “fresh challenges and opportunities.” “As we look for new answers in the modern age, I for one prefer the tried and tested recipes, like speaking well of each other and respecting different points of view; coming together to seek out the common ground; and never losing sight of the bigger picture…to me, these approaches are timeless, and I commend them to everyone” the queen said. Her comments have been widely interpreted as a message to MPs on different sides of the Brexit debate.
- EU will not renegotiate Brexit deal, warns Le Maire (FT): France’s finance minister has warned Britain that the EU will not renegotiate its Brexit agreement and predicted that leaving with no deal would be a “catastrophe” for the UK and the continent. Bruno Le Maire told the BBC on Friday that France was preparing for a no-deal Brexit but he hoped that British politicians would still be able to find a solution. But he was blunt about the inability of Brussels to reopen the withdrawal agreement: “I’m afraid we have nothing to give,” he told the Today programme. “If there is a need for any further clarifications (that would be possible) . . . but re-opening the deal would mean weeks, months of renegotiation with the UK.” Mr Le Maire said European leaders would not shift from their fundamental position. “You can’t be out of the EU and get all the benefits of the common market. That’s a clear red line for France.”
- EU could move on ‘red lines’ says Chancellor (BBC): The EU could be ready to drop some of its “red lines” from the Brexit deal it struck with the UK to “help” save it, Chancellor Philip Hammond has said. He said he did not believe the EU would scrap the backstop – the plan to keep an open border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. But some in the EU were “looking at what they can do” to change it to get the deal through the UK Parliament. He also warned of “very significant disruption” from a no-deal Brexit. Mr Hammond said leaving with a withdrawal agreement was the “only credible and sustainable way” forward, and he believed it was his job as chancellor to “drive us towards a compromise deal”. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme from Davos, where he has been meeting EU and business leaders, he claimed some European politicians were “thinking very hard about where the European Union has drawn its red lines [and] whether they really need to be in the place where they have been drawn”. He added, “They are not prepared to compromise on the fundamental principles that the EU has set out, but they certainly are looking at whether there is anything they can do without compromising those principles.”
- MPs back ‘passporting’ agreements for City beyond Europe (FT): “Passporting applies with the EU and that will end with Brexit,” Nicky Morgan told the Financial Times. “But why couldn’t passporting apply to other countries around the world that share our high regulatory standards?” She was speaking ahead of the Treasury committee on Friday launching an inquiry into the future of the UK’s financial services industry after Brexit. The committee said it would examine “what the government’s financial services priorities should be when it negotiates the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU and third countries”. Ms Morgan said the Treasury committee’s job was “to hold regulators and the City to account but also to highlight the City’s challenges and opportunities”. “We need to remind government of how important financial services are to our economy,” she added. Miles Celic, chief executive of The CityUK, an umbrella lobby group that represents banks, asset managers and insurance companies, said: “It’s absolutely right that the [Treasury committee] is looking at this. It’s crucial that parliament, government, industry and regulators work together.”
- Troops could return to Irish border, warns Leo Varadkar (BBC): Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said a hard border could “involve people in uniform… possibly a police presence, or an army presence to back it up”. Mr Varadkar added that Ireland had been “victimised” by the Brexit process. An Irish government spokesperson later said Mr Varadkar was not referring to putting Irish troops at the border, insisting there are no plans to do so. “The taoiseach made it clear in the interview that the government is determined to avoid a no deal scenario and the consequent risk of a hard border,” the spokesperson said. “He was asked to describe a hard border, and gave a description of what it used to look like, and the risk of what it could look like in the worst case scenario. “He was not referring to Irish personnel and the Irish government has no plans to deploy infrastructure or personnel at the border.” Mr Varadkar’s claims were condemned as “reckless and irresponsible” by Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald. “Today he paints a doomsday scenario of a return of soldiers to the border in the event of a no-deal Brexit,” she said. “If that is the case then the only way to prevent such a scenario is by affording the Irish people their say in the form of a border poll on Irish unity.”
- Brussels at odds with EU member states over no-deal Brexit plans (FT): Brussels is struggling to prevent EU member states from adopting contingency plans for a no-deal Brexit that it sees as too generous to UK sectors such as road haulage and aviation. The debate over how far to go in managing the worst effects of a hard Brexit has pitted the European Commission against a “pragmatist” group of member states including France, Spain, Poland and Luxembourg, according to diplomatic notes. A more accommodating approach to contingency measures could provide British hauliers with more operating freedoms within the EU market, as well as granting UK airlines a broader range of flying rights than the basic point-to-point arrangements backed by Brussels. Even under the most forgiving scenario, British and EU officials envisage unprecedented disruption in the event of a no-deal. The central bank of Ireland, the EU27 country most directly affected, warns such a scenario could pose “immense” economic threats. The commission warned that pursuing bilateral air transport agreements would have a “negative impact” on future EU-UK negotiations. Through suggested revisions to road haulage plans, member states also risked providing “key benefits of the internal market” to UK hauliers, the commission said.
- Penny Mordaunt says UK shifting towards no-deal to get Brexit done (FT): Penny Mordaunt, the Eurosceptic international development secretary, said that the country’s stance was hardening on leaving the EU without a deal — in favour of the alternative of trading with the bloc on World Trade Organisation terms. “You see this shift to no-deal. It’s not because [voters] particularly want WTO terms, it’s because they want it done,” she told the Financial Times in an interview. “That’s not necessarily because that’s their preferred option. But I think the public want to send us a message that, end of March, we expect you to leave the EU, and that is the most important thing. To them, no Brexit is worse than no-deal.” Despite government warnings about economic and administrative disruption, a quarter of Britons now say that a no-deal Brexit is their preferred outcome, according to two recent polls. More than half of Conservative members say they would be “delighted”, “pleased” or “relieved” if it happened. Ms Mordaunt admitted that the UK’s institutions “look a little crazy” and that voters felt the Brexit process had been “a bit grim”. But she added: “I think we will look back on this with pride as a nation.”
