EPP Spitzenkandidat Manfred Weber, who is chairman of the centre-right EPP grouping, says Jeremy Hunt should apologise for comparing the EU to the Soviet Union. Reaction to the foreign secretary's disastrous speech spills over into a second day.
Weber adds the citizens' rights chapter of the Withdrawal Agreement should be ring fenced if there's no deal: 'We must find a way to guarantee the legal status of these citizens even in the case of a hard Brexit. We need the idea of a ring fencing agreement.'
(Reminder: Theresa May has basically made a political commitment to do this already. The EU has been silent, and it's probably Member States and the Commission who Weber is really aiming his remarks at)
In a not particularly veiled swipe at Hunt, the socialist grouping's leader Udo Bullman picks up the baton by bemoaning the 'irresponsible leadership in the UK' at the moment.
Bullmann backs a 2nd referendum: 'The majority of people in UK now know they're being led down the wrong path. If this Govt fails, and it looks like that, the British have a right to say their views on that directly. That's the message that we must convey in these negotiations.'
German MEP Hans-Olaf Henkel, from the ECR grouping, addresses Juncker: 'To end the confusion in London we must end the ignorance here in Brussels. As a German I always felt it was right Britain won the Battle of Britain. Make sure you're not going to lose the battle for Britain.'
