President Hollande demands tough Brexit negotiations… Speaking in Paris at a dinner attended by Jean-Claude Juncker, EU commission president, and Michel Barnier, the EU’s top Brexit negotiator, the French president urged the bloc to lead tough negotiations with the UK to avoid contagion and protect the fundamental principles of the single market. – Financial Times (£) …as Angela Merkel warns German industry ‘cannot save’ Britain from hard Brexit… German car makers and other major industrial lobbies will not be able to insist that Britain gets an easy deal in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations, the German chancellor Angela Merkel has warned. In a further hardening of the line against Britain, Mrs Merkel told the annual conference of German industrial federations, the BDI, that defending the principle of free movement and the internal cohesion of the European Union would come before defending German exports to the UK. – Daily Telegraph The German Chancellor said that giving Britain full access to free trade across Europe’s border but allowing it to restrict the movement of people would lead to a free-for-all. – Sky News German economy minister: EU should leave door open for UK to return in future – Daily Telegraph …though Britain will forge a military bond with Germany despite Brexit The Royal Navy’s newest helicopter, the Wildcat, will operate from a German warship that is due to take part in operations in the Mediterranean next year. The deal comes despite the Brexit fallout, and Germany’s desire to build an EU army — an ambition that the British government opposes. – The Times (£) Christine Lagarde defends IMF’s Brexit warnings but accepts impact has been “mild” Christine Lagarde has defended the International Monetary Fund’s stark warnings about the impact of the Brexit vote, insisting that it was the Fund’s “job” to point out economic risks. The IMF managing director said she was “encouraged” by the “mild’ impact of the referendum result so far. – Daily Telegraph A string of recent data has shown that the UK economy has performed better than expected after the referendum, and the IMF recently improved its gross domestic product forecasts for Britain this year. – City A.M. Business confidence bounces back as firms voice optimism on Britain’s future Confidence has returned to British business with firms reporting a jump in optimism about their prospects and the wider UK economy over the next 12 months. It marks a dramatic turnaround in sentiment from July, when confidence slumped amid uncertainty and market chaos following the EU referendum result in June. – Daily Telegraph Economics expert hits out at UK banking industry’s Hard Brexit scaremongering – Daily Express London event enquiries jump 41 per cent since Brexit – Business Traveller Acquisitions to continue in spite of Brexit vote – Business Quarter Hammond sets scene for major bust-up with EU over crucial finance markets after Brexit Philip Hammond believes the UK could keep a hold of a crucial multi-trillion dollar financial market which is currently dominated by London – but which the EU wants to snatch when Brexit takes place. Britain is the global hub for clearing euro-denominated derivatives, a vast industry which processes trades with a nominal value of hundreds of billions of dollars every day and many trillions of dollars per year. – Daily Telegraph Philip Hammond and Theresa May heading for fierce row after Chancellor declares Brits don’t mind high-skilled immigration – The Sun Mark Carney backs prime minister’s call to end over-reliance on monetary policy – The Guardian Pound ‘flash crash’ sees sterling plunge 10% within minutes – but was it due to a ‘fat finger’ error? The pound suffered its biggest drop against the dollar since the Brexit vote on Friday amid warnings from the French president that the UK faced tough Brexit negotiations…Several said a “fat finger” error probably triggered a wave of so-called “stop-loss” orders, which automatically sell the pound once its value falls below a specified level. – Daily Telegraph Britain needs a lower pound – but it will come at a cost – Allister Heath for the Daily Telegraph Forget Brussels, Brexit’s toughest battleground is the WTO Britain’s freedom to set trade policy — and the EU’s response to that new regime — also will have to conform to the dizzyingly complex architecture of the WTO. Brexit has now become “first and foremost a WTO matter,” said Daniel Guéguen, head of strategy and lobbying at Pact European Affairs. – Politico Can the UK take over existing EU trade agreements? – BBC Why Britain is going to have a ‘Hard Brexit’ no matter what When Prime Minister Theresa May triggers Article 50, starting the two-year negotiation period for the UK’s exit of the European Union, all eyes will be on the type of deal Britain gets. And it looks like Britain is careening head-first into a “hard Brexit,” restricting freedom of movement and losing Single Market access. The Conservative-led government is prioritising immigration in the nation’s Brexit deal. – Business Insider UK Corbyn critic Sir Keir Starmer returns to shadow cabinet in Brexit role Sir Keir Starmer, the former head of the Crown Prosecution Service, who stormed out of Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet in protest at his leadership, will return to Labour’s front benches. Mr Corbyn has begun his latest reshuffle, inviting Sir Keir back as shadow Brexit secretary, in a move that brings forward one of the major moderate figures to the top team. – Daily Mail Stephen Booth: Turkey is no model for Britain’s post-Brexit trade policy There is, it is said, an intense dispute in the Cabinet about whether Brexit should mean that the UK leaves the EU’s “customs union”. Turkey, which is the only country outside the EU that has a customs union with it, has been mentioned as possible model for Britain: some think it shows how the UK might remain in the customs union and still be able to strike its own trade deals with countries outside the EU. In fact the Turkish experience is no template for UK trade after Brexit. – Stephen Booth of Open Europe in the Daily Telegraph Fraser Nelson: In this topsy-turvy world, Remainers have become the illiberal Brexit enforcers, whether Leavers like it or not An American visitor to this week’s party conference in Birmingham spotted the conundrum. Why was it, she asked me, that the Brexiteers were the ones most uncomfortable about this more robust language on immigration? And why are those who backed Remain far more at ease with cracking down on these Europeans? And isn’t this a tad hypocritical? – Fraser Nelson in the Daily Telegraph Ed Conway: EU is better off without freedom of movement Here’s a thought: what if this golden rule, that EU citizens should be allowed to move across the continent at will, was flawed, and had been weakening the project for years? What if Britain should never have had to open its borders to the rest of Europe — not for reasons of closed-mindedness or isolationism but because of straightforward economics? Finally, what if it were possible to believe this without ever doubting the economic logic that, for the most part, immigration is usually a good thing? – Ed Conway for The Times (£) Charles Grant: Why Europe wants a hard Brexit to hurt British negotiators need to understand why the 27 are so obdurate on this point. The Germans and others worry that if the British win a special status, other countries – inside or outside the EU – would ask for equivalent deals. And that would potentially destabilise the union… But the biggest driver of the tough line on the four freedoms is fear of populism. In Paris, mainstream politicians do not want Marine Le Pen to be able to say: “Look at the Brits, they are doing fine outside the EU, let’s follow them there.” Similar views colour thinking in The Hague, Rome and other capitals: the British must be seen to pay a price for leaving. – Charles Grant for The Guardian Brexit comment in brief The referendum has far from settled the Europe issue for the Tories – Philip Webster for The Times RedBox There is no such thing as hard or soft Brexit – John Redwood on CommentCentral May has no right to foist this manifesto on us – Philip Collins for The Times (£) Labour urgently needs a policy on freedom of movement – Cat Overton for The Huffington Post Only a failed Brexit can save Ukip now – Alexandra Phillips for The Guardian The SNP are using Amber Rudd’s stupid and inflammatory plan to hide their confusion on Brexit – Alan Cochrane for the Daily Telegraph Only an independence referendum can protect Scotland from Brexit now – James Kelly for the International Business Times Our environment is at risk if we go for a hard Brexit – Mary Creagh for The Times (£) RedBox Brexit & the City: The important role of financial and professional services across the UK – Mark Boleat for the New Statesman Don’t blame businesses for hiring foreign staff. Improve British skills – Romilly Dennys for City A.M. Mobile is the invisible infrastructure that can drive the economy in post-Brexit Britain – Brendan O’Reilly for City A.M. Brexit Britain needs better yardsticks than the EU – Douglas Carswell’s Blog Brexit news in brief UKIP MEP Steven Woolfe ‘smiling and well’ after alleged fight with colleague – The Guardian Tony Blair says he may come back to frontline British politics – Huffington Post UK demand for Irish passports doubles after Brexit vote – Politico Nicola Sturgeon says there may be a case for second EU referendum – Daily Telegraph Judge to ‘immediately’ consider landmark Brexit court case on the EU referendum – News Letter Handful of wealthy donors dominated Brexit campaign funding – Reuters Joseph Stiglitz says Italy could leave the eurozone – Politico Cornwall seeks guarantee for future funds post-Brexit – Sky News Immigration crackdown could lead to staff shortages, say recruiters – The Guardian Heathrow launches PR drive for third runway pegged to Brexit – The Guardian Farmers face fresh pesticide rules post-Brexit – Farmers Weekly And finally… One FT reader left BrexitCentral’s fringe rally in Birmingham yet to be persuaded of the merits of Brexit “Sir, One of the many pathetic spectacles at this year’s Conservative party conference was Brexit Central’s Jonathan Isaby lecturing Remainers at a fringe event to unite around Brexit because more people had voted for it than for anything else in UK electoral history… It is not up to us to make this nonsense work; it is up to our government (including its recent converts to the Brexit cause) and supporters like Mr Isaby.” – Reader’s letter to today’s FT (£)