Today’s political headlines include MPs urgin May to scrap tomorrow’s vote, EU to demand higher payments if UK requests extension, May battles to save Brexit deal and Gove calls on Tories to back Brexit deal.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
MPs urge May to scrap tomorrow\u2019s Brexit vote EU to demand higher payments if UK requests Brexit extension Theresa May battles to save Brexit deal and premiership Gove calls on Tories to back Brexit deal Hunt says he\u2019s looking at ways to bring Isis fighters\u2019 children back to UK Almost 40 new schools to be created to tackle knife crime epidemic Lenders increase holdings of liquid assets as Bank of England prepares for no-deal Brexit Labour won\u2019t support second referendum this week
\n<\/strong>The Times<\/em>\u00a0claims<\/a>\u00a0that \u2018senior Conservative MPs\u2019 are urging Theresa May to scrap tomorrow\u2019s planned \u2018meaningful vote\u2019 on her Brexit deal unless she is able to secure \u2018significant concessions\u2019 from the EU. They used phone calls with the Prime Minister to warn her than she faces a further three-figure defeat, while negotiators continued to seek a last-minute compromise, with May ready to fly to Brussels should an amended deal be agreed. The BBC\u00a0adds<\/a>\u00a0that Downing Street has said this morning that talks with the EU are deadlocked.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The Daily Telegraph<\/em>\u00a0says<\/a>\u00a0that the EU will \u2018impose punitive conditions\u2019 should Theresa May be forced to request a Brexit extension. It claims that the bloc\u2019s members\u2019 attitudes are \u2018hardening\u2019 and would require \u2018legal and financial conditions\u2019, potentially including a payment of \u00a313.5bn a year and losing its seat at the table when laws are being made.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The Guardian<\/em>\u00a0says<\/a>\u00a0that Theresa May is \u2018battling\u2019 both to save her Brexit deal and her premiership, with a risk that, if Parliament votes to delay Brexit, Eurosceptics could move against the Prime Minister. The paper claims ministers have been discussing whether the Prime Minister should name a date to quit in order to help the deal pass, while Chancellor Philip Hammond is preparing to offer billions to \u2018end austerity\u2019 in the Spring Statement.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Writing<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Daily Mail<\/em>, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Michael Gove has warned Conservative MPs that they have under 48 hours to save Brexit, claiming that \u2018everyone who believes in democracy\u2019 should back Theresa May\u2019s deal which would \u2018unite our country\u2019 and that a no-deal Brexit wouldn\u2019t \u2018honour\u2019 a commitment made to voters ahead of the referendum.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The Guardian<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said that the Government is looking at ways to bring the children of British fighters in Syria to the UK, adding that it had been too dangerous to send British officials to rescue Shamima Begum\u2019s baby son from the camp in which she was living and that her decision to join Isis had \u2018consequences\u2019.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The Daily Telegraph<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that Education Secretary Damian Hinds is to announce that 39 new free schools, representing 3,500 extra school places, are to be created, many for pupils expelled from mainstream schools and others for those with special educational needs, as part of the Government\u2019s response to what the paper calls a \u2018knife crime epidemic\u2019.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The\u00a0Financial Times<\/em>\u00a0says<\/a>\u00a0that the Bank of England has warned some British lenders that they need to triple their holdings of \u2018easy-to-sell assets\u2019 in order to cope with the consequences of a no-deal Brexit. Rules introduced by the Prudential Regulation Authority mean that some lenders now need to hold enough liquid assets to cope with a period when banks stop lending to each other of 100 days, rather than 30 as normal.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The Times<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that Labour\u2019s Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer has said that the party will not push for a second Brexit referendum this week, even in the event of the Prime Minister\u2019s Brexit deal being defeated, instead backing an extension to Article 50. People\u2019s Vote supporters fear MPs voting on a referendum too early would lead to a big defeat.<\/p>\n