What the commentators said
“Like a collision between supertankers, the crash between British and European Brexit negotiators has been a long time coming but was no less spectacular for it,” said Dan Roberts in The Guardian. For things to progress, both sides will need to take a “more realistic account of their opponent’s position”. The EU must accept that it will be “easier for Theresa May to write a cheque if she has something to show for it”; and the UK must face up to the costs of Brexit.
Europe’s negotiating position is currently being set by the Commission, which, with no electorate to answer to, takes a very dogmatic line on EU issues, said Mark Wallace in the i newspaper. But as time goes on, Juncker and his fellow ideologues will be “reined in by more pragmatic voices in the national capitals”. Don’t count on it, said Gideon Rachman in the FT. It’s actually all too easy to imagine these talks breaking down in mutual acrimony. There is a “fairly pronounced ‘finest hour’ reflex in most British people, which is susceptible to an appeal to glorious isolation”. And the EU may find that confrontation with the UK continues to serve as a “useful rallying point” for an otherwise divided Union – and as a focus for the anger at everything else that is going wrong inside the bloc.
EU leaders are clearly preparing for the worst, said Stephen Bush in the New Statesman. The fact that the leaked report of the Downing Street dinner was written in German should have alerted us to the fact that it wasn’t aimed at us, but at German voters. The message? “Don’t blame Angie if the talks end in tears and Germans living and working in Britain see their rights go up in smoke.” EU leaders are “getting their excuses in early”. Britain must also start planning for a no-deal scenario, said Juliet Samuel in The Daily Telegraph. I don’t welcome such a prospect – it would involve “stomach-churning risks” – but it may be “forced upon us”. Besides, only by showing that we’re prepared for such an outcome will we win compromises from the EU. The risk otherwise is that we’ll be railroaded by the EU27 into accepting a lousy Brexit deal that carries “all of the economic costs and none of the democratic benefits”.
Labour election pledges
Labour has promised to put 10,000 more police officers on the streets of England and Wales if it wins the election. Jeremy Corbyn said the policy would be paid for by reversing last year’s cuts to capital gains tax; however, the Tories claimed he had already committed that money to funding other pledges. Further policies announced by Labour include banning zero-hours contracts and unpaid internships, and ending the publicsector pay cap. The party was expected to lose council seats in local elections this Thursday, when six areas in England were also voting for mayors for the first time.
Anti-terror operations
Police say they have foiled a terror plot, following a raid on a house in Willesden, northwest London, in which a woman was shot and several people arrested. The 21-year-old woman was not seriously harmed, and was arrested after being released from hospital. Hours before, in an unrelated incident, a 27-year-old named Khalid Ali, who was born overseas but raised in Tottenham, was arrested near the Palace of Westminster on suspicion of terror offences. He was found to have several knives in his rucksack. Police are thought to have had a tip-off from a member of his family.