5 fast Brexit facts you need this morning with 24 days to go
With just 24 days left before Brexit, it can be hard to keep a hold on what’s going on – and how it will affect you.
Theresa May still hasn’t agreed a deal with MPs and the EU – and if there’s no breakthrough, we’ll either leave with no deal or have to delay Brexit .
Procedural stuff that happens in Westminster is hugely important to you and your family.
So this week we’ll be producing a daily morning round-up on the fast bits of news you need to know.
Here’s your 60-second guide.
1. We’re back in Brussels today – again
Attorney General Geoffrey Cox and Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay are to hold fresh talks in Brussels in a renewed effort to secure changes to the Northern Ireland backstop.
Downing Street – where their colleagues will hold a Cabinet meeting this morning from 9.30am – has said negotiations are at a "critical stage".
Theresa May wants concessions from the EU over the Irish backstop, which could lock the UK into EU customs rules from 1 January 2021.
Yesterday Mr Cox half-denied claims that he’s given up putting an end date or exit clause on the backstop. His argument on Twitter concluded with the immortal words: "Get Outlook for iOS."
The Sun reports we could finally get some "legal assurances" on Monday, days before a string of votes that will steer the future of the UK.
Just to remind you the key votes are:
March 12: Vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal
March 13: If that fails, vote on No Deal Brexit
March 14: If No Deal is blocked, vote on delaying Brexit
2. But the French President’s on the warpath
Emmanuel Macron has torn into Brexiteers, complaining that "anger mongers, backed by fake news, promise anything and everything".
He said: "Who told the British people the truth about their post-Brexit future?
"Who spoke to them about losing access to the European market?
"Who mentioned the risks to peace in Ireland of restoring the former border?
"Nationalist retrenchment offers nothing."
Indicating he will stand firm on the backstop, he said: "Our borders also need to guarantee fair competition.
"What power in the world would accept continued trade with those who respect none of their rules? We cannot suffer in silence."
And without a hint of gloating he said: "The Brexit impasse is a lesson for us all."
3. Scotland and Wales are voting against the "disaster" of Brexit
The Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales will vote simultaneously on a motion declaring opposition to Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
Both motions object to the deal to leave the European Union by the UK Government and declare that a no-deal Brexit would be "completely unacceptable".
If passed, they would call for the UK Government to "take immediate steps to prevent the UK leaving the EU without a deal" as well as an extension of Article 50.
Scotland’s Constitutional Relations Secretary Mike Russell said: "This is an unprecedented event: the first time in 20 years of devolution that the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales have debated the same motion simultaneously.
"We are taking this historic step to send a strong message to the UK Government that it must stop pursuing such a disastrous course of action."
4. Michel Barnier will meet teenagers from Northern Ireland
Five campaigners – aged between 16 and 23 – will tell the EU’s chief negotiator that the Irish backstop cannot be used as bargaining chip in Theresa May’s efforts to appease her hardline backbenchers or the DUP.
As “children of the peace process” who grew up after the Good Friday Agreement, they will express alarm at reports that the EU may be preparing to water-down commitments to maintain peace.
As members of the Northern Ireland branch of Our Future, Our Choice – which supports calls for a new public vote on Brexit – they will emphasise that neither the 2016 referendum nor the currently-suspended Stormont Assembly has enabled their democratic rights to be heard.
The OFOC NI group represents Unionists and Nationalists alike.
Doire Finn from Newry said: “Our futures are not bargaining chips in a game of poker being played between the UK government, the DUP and the EU.
"Too many lives have been lost in the past, too many voices are being unheeded, too many lessons are now being forgotten."
5. MPs are suffering more abuse – but the Speaker won’t stand for it
Speaker John Bercow has urged police to bring Brexit bigots to book.
Describing threats to MPs as "a burgeoning phenomenon", he said allowing intimidation to continue would be the "death of democracy".
The Speaker was responding to a point of order brought by Tory MP Nicky Morgan, highlighting a new documentary investigating online abuse.
Mr Bercow assured Ms Morgan he would do "everything in my power" to "uphold and champion" the duty of MPs who were being threatened to "do what is right for the country".
Mr Bercow called on MPs "not currently in the line of fire" to take responsibility for protecting those who are, which he said was their democratic duty.
He said: "It has to be made clear to the bigots – and they are bigots, there is really no other way to describe it – it needs to be made clear to the bigots that their behaviour is not only objectionable, bullying, misogynistic and utterly immoral, it will fail.
"If the House of Commons cannot do what it thinks is right that would be the death of democracy.
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