28/03/2017 The Papers

Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be

With me are Lucy Fisher, senior political correspondent

at the Times Newspaper, and the former Labour

The bloke banging his head on the concrete, welcome to Brexit.

Tomorrow's front pages, starting with:

The 'i Newspaper' leads with tomorrow's triggering

of Article 50, allowing the UK two years to negotiate

The Daily Express refers to the Prime Minister's letter

formally notifying the EU about the UK's departure

from the European bloc, and shows an image of Theresa May

signing the letter addressed to the President

of the European Council, Donald Tusk.

The sun has projected its headline on a white cliffs of Dover and said

it is Dover and out. The Daily Telegraph claims that

while Mrs May's letter to Mr Tusk will include a broad outline

of her negotiating position, it will not contain any

mention of a cut-off date The Guardian calls it the day

Britain steps into the unknown. Happy day for the express, Ayesha?

It is a day for newspapers and from pages. The express is the most

euphoric and then you start working down from it. The express is, dear

EU, we are leaving you. There is going to be so much focus on this

letter now, who delivers it. Someone will be tracking it. I hope he is in

when they deliver it, when you get one of those messages, we have left

a card because you are out. The express is delighted. They are very

much taking the line from Theresa May, very patriotically determined

language. Fierce determination to get the right deal for every single

person in the country. They are trying to put a positive, optimistic

spin on it. What is going to be in the letter apart from hate, folks,

we're off? Anything else? It will be very short indeed. Just invoking

article 50, it is unprecedented, we don't know what is going to come

next. All eyes will turn to Brussels, the 27 and their response,

setting out the terms for the talks and if they will allow Britain to

try and negotiate a trade treaty at the same time as negotiating the

divorce. Front page of the Daily Mirror, dear EU, it is time to go.

We are one great union of people and nations with a proud history and a

bright future. And there is the word divorce and Donald Tusk, the man who

should be getting that letter tomorrow. Onto the Daily Telegraph,

Lucy. The behind Brexit, says Theresa May. Do you think tomorrow

we are going to see those Remoaners, the Remainers, his say just get the

best deal? I doubt it. The Prime Minister has encouraged Brexiteers

not to hold independent state parties. She doesn't want people to

be triumphant, rubbing it in the face of the 48% that did not vote

for this. Her message is one of unity, let's come behind this

decision and move forward. It is interesting, we do remain very

polarised, but one positive thing Brexiteer 's have seized upon this

week, was a leak that went to a German publication showing an

internal memo from the German finance ministry suggesting no deal

if Britain doesn't get a trade deal with the rest of the EU, it could

potentially be disastrous for Germany's financial stability and

economy. So I think remain as feel as though they are on shaky ground,

keeping their head down for more than one reason. I think we all

accept the result of Brexit, but nobody voted for Britain to be worse

off. We didn't vote for broke Brexit, we didn't vote for the

economy to go off a cliff edge and it's not noble for people to be

asking serious questions about what this deal is going to look like and

what it will mean for jobs and prosperity and the culture of this

country. I thought it was interesting, Nicky Morgan's tone.

She did a tour of the TV studios today. She has been fears in her

opposition to Brexit, but leaving her language softened, she said

let's end this phoney war and be more united. But here are some tests

we think the British people will expect. One of the big things will

be immigration and that will be a contentious issue. The government

had been thin lipped about what they are saying about immigration and

David Davies last night, on question Time actually hinted that

immigration might not come down in terms of what people are expecting

from Brexit. So, the truth is, it is a leap in the dark with a blindfold

on. Nobody really knows what'll happen, including David Davies and

Liam Fox. We will have to see how all of shakes down. The front page

of The Times, Lucy. The eyes of history are watching and that

includes the picture behind Theresa May of the first Prime Minister of

Great Britain? Yes, an interesting choice given many historians revile

him as corrupt. But he is the first Prime Minister and it is that

patriotically chip, this union Jack flag next to her. It will become an

iconic image. I love this buzzword, it is a wet signature. It is a

proper fountain pen. You can see the weight of it. I am disappointed it

is not an actual quill. But the IRNA is it is a woman Prime Minister in

the position of having to do this, following on from a woman

Conservative Prime Minister who, while she had her issues with Europe

and famously said no, no, no, was actually still committed to Europe?

She was committed to the trade aspects and the trade and commercial

advantages it gave Britain and its membership. And the irony women are

playing a significant role. Look at Nicola Sturgeon and some of the

other nationalist leaders. It may end up having a big constitutional

crisis with the United Kingdom and it is interesting women are the

leaders on it. But I think Theresa May, she is calibrating this very

carefully. She is not being as flamboyant as her predecessor may

have been. She is trying to be measured and calm. Her strategy is a

little bit like treat the British public like potatoes and keepers in

the dark. She is trying to be sober, trying to be measured and I think

they are not going over the top with the media stuff too much right now.

It will be an interesting Prime Minister's Questions tomorrow and

her body language in the chamber. The stakes are very high as Lucy

said, people are so divided. Even Labour voters who voted to leave and

they would not change their mind on voting to leave, but they are

nervous about what it means for them and their small businesses. If we go

to the Financial Times, Theresa May signs historic Brexit letter and

opens terms for compromise. The ?60 billion exit bill, but David Davies

said immigration will not necessarily come down. It could be

that at the end of this process, many on the Leeds side might field

Raqqa feel disappointed and short-changed. The key elements is

whether Britain has links to the European Court of justice. Brexiteer

said make Parliament sovereign, let's take is out of the

jurisdiction of this foreign court that has the final say on our laws

and regulations. But the suggestion here they are softening on that and

there could be some partial or non-binding agreement with Britain

with this court as an arbiter to trade regulations. Also, the divorce

Bill, this question of how much Britain will pay to leave and any

future contributions, she may have this soft on her tone on that. And

finally, she has suggested in her letter to Donald Tusk tomorrow, she

wants to beef up security ties with the other 27 nations. It is

interesting, this moderate tone after some robust rhetoric from her,

Liam Fox and David Davies in recent months. And just at the end of the

financial timepiece, and be of the most critical in terms of the

obstacles and things. But in spite of the mood music, some diplomats in

London think the chances are now no greater than 50-50 in getting a

deal. So clearly there are lots of these obstacles in the way. But

Number Ten have moved a lot of the issue of EU migrants. She has said,

I want to fight as hard for EU migrants, who live in this country,

as British people as well. I personally feel she would gain a lot

of goodwill and show leadership if she made a stand now and said we

would be prepared to do the right thing by EU citizens. The European

Union have made it clear it is one of the things they need to get

sorted first before they can move other issues. The is interesting. If

we zoom in a little bits, there are dotted lines around the United

Kingdom. We don't get any closer than that. As if you are going to

cut out the United Kingdom from the map of Europe. And if we bring up

the garden, they have taken a similar route. Hoping to bring it up

now. They have already cut the United Kingdom out of the map. Lucy

I suppose the government and Theresa May want to make the point that

actually, we're not cutting ourselves from Europe, we not

cutting ourselves out of this jigsaw as the Guardian suggests. We will

just have a different relationship? That's right, Theresa May has said

she wants the EU to be a strong trading partner with the UK. What

strikes me as interesting about these two front pages, is the fact

they make so many assumptions that Scotland will still be part of the

UK and Northern Ireland. One of the big stories for me this week has

been ministers conceding, for the first time, that Northern Ireland

could be part of the EU and leave the UK if it voted for

reunification. It is interesting and the different scenario from

Scotland, which would have to apply, for the first time to join the EU as

an independent nation. Northern Ireland could stay in the EU without

having to reapply. Ministers have suggested. That answers the

leader-macro leaves a lot of questions in the air about our

relationship with Ireland and the EU. The Holyrood parliament voted

today, it is not necessarily the UK you cut out of this map, you could

cut Scotland out, cut Northern Ireland up potentially. A whole can

of worms has been opened by this. Do you think Leavers saw any of it

coming? I don't think they did. They don't want to open up any questions

about that, they don't want to get into the idea of potential

unravelling of the Constitution and the chaos. So anybody from my side,

the Remoaners asks these questions, we get shouted down and we are told

we are sore losers, the people have spoken. But there are big questions.

We have seen today in Scotland, there was the vote in Holyrood which

will make them want to ask for a referendum. There is no way Theresa

May will give them one. But of course the Nationalists in Wales are

asking the same question. If Scotland is having this discussion

about independence, we want a discussion about independence as

well. It is a fragile time for the whole of the UK as well as the EU.

But people are frustrated about, it is all very interesting for us,

political commentators and journalists, but it is a distraction

from lots of domestic issues going on but still need attention from the

government. Finally, we have almost ran out of time, the Sun newspaper,

Lucy. Possibly the best of the Brexit front pages. As our Prime

Minister signs the exit paper, Dover and out. It is impactful. It speaks

to exactly what the Brexit boasts the leader-macro voters about,

border control. David Davis picked out at a major moment, suggesting

immigration will go up as well as go down. I think people will feel

betrayed... If Bauer comes to pass. We don't know, we have two years of

this. Remember that guy bashing his head across the country, I wasn't

far off. That is a hard Brexit. Lucy, Ayesha, thanks for looking at

the stories behind this single headline, which is of course, we are

out and that letter will be going to Donald Tusk tomorrow from Theresa

May. You can see the front pages of all of them online and if you missed

the programme you can watch it later on the BBC iPlayer. Relive all the

magic! Thank you to my guests and for you watching. Goodbye.