- Downing Street indicates May willing to renegotiate backstop – Downing Street has indicated that Theresa May is willing to go to Brussels to try to renegotiate the EU withdrawal treaty — which includes the Irish border “backstop” — in a bid to broker a Brexit deal at Westminster. Asked repeatedly whether the UK prime minister would try to reopen the treaty, Mrs May’s spokesman said: “The deal, including the withdrawal treaty and therefore the backstop, was rejected by MPs by a very significant margin. “If we are going to leave with a deal, we are going to have to make some significant changes in order to win parliamentary support.” Eurosceptic Tory MPs claim they were told at several meetings last week that Mrs May was willing to reopen the withdrawal deal, even though EU leaders are adamant the text will not be reopened. The meetings were attended by government chief whip Julian Smith and Mrs May’s chief of staff Gavin Barwell. (FT)
- Food retailers warn MPs on risks of no-deal Brexit – A no-deal Brexit would quickly trigger a jump in food prices and a reduction in choice of products, British retailers have warned in the latest plea by big business against leaving the EU without an agreement. A letter from bosses of some of the country’s leading retail chains to MPs urged parliament “to find a solution that avoids the shock of a no deal Brexit on March 29”. “While we have been working closely with our suppliers on contingency plans, it is not possible to mitigate all the risks to our supply chains and we fear significant disruption in the short term as a result if there is no Brexit deal,” said the executives. The letter, co-ordinated by the British Retail Consortium, said they anticipated “significant risks to maintaining the choice, quality and durability of food that our customers have come to expect in our stores,” adding: “There will be inevitable pressure on food prices from higher transport costs, currency devaluation and tariffs.” (FT)
- High risk of UK crashing out – EU negotiator – There is a high risk of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal by accident, the EU’s deputy chief negotiator Sabine Weyand has said. She said there was “full ownership of what was agreed” in the EU, but “no ownership” of it in the UK Parliament. And it was a challenge to see how a majority for any deal could be built among MPs, she added. It comes as Theresa May addressed a meeting of Tory MPs, the day before all MPs vote on a series of amendments to the PM’s plans that could shape the future direction of Brexit. Speaking at an event in Brussels, Ms Weyand – deputy to the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier – said that other options for the Irish border had been extensively discussed and referred to the months-long negotiations with her UK counterparts. She said that a lot of the discussion of the withdrawal agreement in the UK was “uninhibited by any knowledge” of what it actually contained. (BBC)
- Labour support for Yvette Cooper’s Brexit amendment in doubt – Labour’s backing for Yvette Cooper’s anti no-deal Brexit amendment has been thrown into doubt, after a shadow cabinet ally of Jeremy Corbyn warned that supporting it would smack of “ignoring the views of millions of ordinary folk”. Labour had been widely expected to whip its MPs to support the amendment, tabled by Cooper and the former Conservative minister Nick Boles, which paves the way for a backbench bill mandating the government to seek a nine-month extension to article 50. But Jon Trickett, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, told the Guardian voters in his constituency would regard support for the measure on Tuesday as a failure to respect the result of the 2016 referendum. (The Guardian)
- UK cannot simply trade on WTO terms after no-deal Brexit, say experts – The UK will be unable to have frictionless, tariff-free trade under World Trade Organization rules for up to seven years in the event of a no-deal Brexit, according to two leading European Union law specialists. The ensuing chaos could double food prices and plunge Britain into a recession that could last up to 30 years, claim the lawyers who acted for Gina Miller in the historic case that forced the government to seek parliament’s approval to leave the EU. It has been claimed that the UK could simply move to WTO terms if there is no deal with the EU. But Anneli Howard, a specialist in EU and competition law at Monckton Chambers and a member of the bar’s Brexit working group, believes this isn’t true. “No deal means leaving with nothing,” she said. “The anticipated recession will be worse than the 1930s, let alone 2008. It is impossible to say how long it would go on for. Some economists say 10 years, others say the effects could be felt for 20 or even 30 years: even ardent Brexiters agree it could be decades.” The government’s own statistics have estimated that under the worst case no-deal scenario, GDP would be 10.7% lower than if the UK stays in the EU, in 15 years. (The Guardian)
- Brexit process must be extended, UK lawmakers’ committee says – The UK government should seek to prolong the Article 50 process if no Withdrawal Agreement can be found, Parliament’s Exiting the EU Committee has said in a report responding to the vote on the January 15th that rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed deal. “A ‘managed no deal’ cannot constitute the policy of any responsible government,” the committee said. Please see here for the report. (MLex)
- CMA consults on powers under no-deal Brexit – The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has published draft guidance and opened a consultation on how it should exercise powers in the event of a no-deal Brexit, including in antitrust and merger control. Please see here for both the draft guidance and consultation document. (MLex)
