Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Financial services bosses back the City to remain Europe’s hub after Brexit… The vast majority of global financial services bosses believe London will remain at the pinnacle of the European industry after Brexit in spite of widespread fears that leaving the EU will dent the UK economy, according to a survey of bosses at big firms. Some 88 per cent of the more than 100 senior leaders surveyed by Lloyds Bank in data published today said that they believe the UK will remain the most prominent hub for financial services even after the UK leaves the EU. The survey’s findings paint a portrait of businesses concerned that Brexit will have negative economic effects, while also backing the City to remain resilient. – City A.M. …as UK firms are more optimistic after Brexit transition deal Britain’s Brexit transition deal last month has boosted confidence among finance chiefs at some of the country’s leading companies, a survey published on Monday showed. Accountancy firm Deloitte said 27 percent of chief financial officers it interviewed after the deal was struck were more optimistic than three months earlier. That compared with 18 percent of CFOs who were more optimistic before the deal was struck. Prime Minister Theresa May and the rest of the EU’s leaders agreed on March 19 to keep their existing trade ties unchanged for 21 months after Brexit in March 2019. – Reuters Weak growth replaces Brexit as top concern for business leaders – Yorkshire Post Britain is now the ‘envy of Europe’ as more people are in work than ever before, says minister Brexit doom-mongers have been proved wrong because more people are in work than ever before, the Work and Pensions Secretary declared last night. Esther McVey yesterday said Britain is now the ‘envy of Europe’, with 1,000 people a day finding work. However, before the referendum, the architects of so-called ‘Project Fear’ claimed 500,000 people would lose their jobs if we voted to leave. Miss McVey told the Daily Mail: ‘There has been much debate surrounding Brexit but the reality is the fundamentals of our economy are strong and with record employment levels, which are the envy of many of our European neighbours.’ Figures show more than 3.2million people have secured a job since the Tories came to power in 2010, raising the employment rate to a record high of 75.3 per cent. – Daily Mail ‘The BBC created Nigel Farage?!’ Arch-Remoaner Adonis ridiculed over Brexit Twitter rants The Sky News host [Niall Paterson] appeared perplexed while questioning Lord Adonis about a tweet in which he suggested Brexit is the “creation of the BBC.” Lord Adonis claimed the BBC was biased in its reporting of Brexit-related stories, reportedly “attacking the BBC” 72 times only this week. Mr Paterson said: “What is your problem with the way in which the BBC is operating? “Since March 2016 you have sent 44 tweets using the hashtag #BrexitBroadcastingCorporation. Guido Fawkes reports you sent 72 tweets ‘attacking the BBC’ this week alone.” – Express > Jonathan Isaby today on BrexitCentral: Sorry, Lord Adonis, but Nigel Farage was created by your pal Tony Blair (not the BBC) Fishermen stage protest over Brexit transition deal Almost 70 boats have taken part in a protest in Plymouth as fishermen voice their concerns over Brexit. Boats from as far away as Newlyn and Teignmouth have met up in the Sound as they protest over the transition deal which has been agreed between the UK and the EU. The Government say they’ve made an agreement with the EU that during the implementation period the UK’s share of quotas won’t change and that both sides will ‘act in good faith’. – ITV News Protesting fishermen from across Britain stage a day of protests against an ‘abject betrayal’ over Brexit, forming flotillas of up to 200 boats with flags, horns and flares – Daily Mail Fishermen protest over lack of control of UK waters post-Brexit – BBC News ‘We won’t be sacrificed without a fight!’ Furious fishermen in mass protest over EU law – Express Tempers flared between Brexiteers and Remainers at a fishermen’s protest in Whitstable attended by Nigel Farage – Kent Online Good Friday Agreement chair George Mitchell issues Brexit warning The chair of negotiations over the Good Friday Agreement has warned against using the Northern Ireland peace process in the debate over Brexit. George Mitchell, a former US Senator who went on to become America’s special envoy to Northern Ireland, used the upcoming 20th anniversary of the signing of the peace deal to urge today’s political leaders to “recognise what’s at stake”. The marking of two decades since the 1998 agreement was signed comes amid the collapse of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government and concerns Brexit could see the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland. – Sky News George Mitchell: UK and Ireland need to realise what’s at stake in Brexit talks – Belfast Telegraph Marr pushes Irish ambassador on whether Brussels will force a hard border on Ireland – Express EU red tape threatens vital start-up tax break A tax break used by thousands of entrepreneurs to attract top talent has been abruptly suspended amid bureaucratic deadlock in London and Brussels. The Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) scheme, used to boost the pay packets of some 23,000 employees at small firms in 2016, has been thrown into doubt as the EU has failed to renew its state aid exemption ahead of an 11pm April 6 deadline. Strict rules on financial aid given to businesses are imposed by Brussels in order to ensure fair competition within its single market. The rules are intended to stop governments giving cash to companies to hand them an advantage over rivals within the EU. – Telegraph (£) Viktor Orbán declares victory for third consecutive term in Hungarian election Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban has claimed a landslide victory in Sunday’s general election. The 54-year-old will serve a third consecutive term in office, with his party Fidesz projected to keep its key two-thirds majority in parliament. Fidesz won almost half of the vote, with 93% of ballots counted, Hungary’s National Election Office said. Mr Orban is a strong Eurosceptic who campaigned on an anti-immigration platform. In a speech to supporters on Sunday night, Mr Orban said his victory gave Hungarians “the opportunity to defend themselves and to defend Hungary”. – BBC News The win will be seen as a blow to Brussels and a further vindication of the brand of populist identity politics which he has made his trademark since coming to office in 2010 – Telegraph Larry Elliott: Why the UK trade deficit with the EU is woeful and widening The UK’s trade performance has deteriorated because the single market and the customs union are designed to suit other countries, Germany in particular, but not Britain. “It is not surprising that our trade deficit with the EU continues to grow, because the single market and customs union does not represent a free trade area. It is a free trade area only in goods. Manufactured goods represent Germany’s comparative advantage, whereas ours is in services. “We have entered into a lop-sided arrangement under which all impediments to trade have been removed from areas where our trading partners are strong but not from areas where we are strong. So obviously our overall trade deficit with them has gone on rising, and will continue to do so.” – Larry Elliot in the Guardian Stephen Glover: Has Tony Blair lost his marbles? That can be the only explanation for his delusional (and treacherous) plea to Germany to stop Brexit Over the years, Tony Blair has done many things that have made me doubt his integrity, and sometimes even his sanity. But he really has surpassed himself with his latest plea that Germany should do all it can to stop Brexit. Of course, ever since the 2016 referendum, he has been doing his damnedest to reverse the democratic decision of the British people. He recently falsely claimed on the BBC that Brexit is driving EU nationals out of the NHS, whereas, in fact, their numbers have increased by 3,000 since June 2016. Blair has also called for a second referendum, and in the course of a BBC interview in January even refused to rule out a third vote if the second one failed to produce the required result. – Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail Karen Bradley: Nobody should be in any doubt. The Government stands firm behind the Good Friday Agreement There is no doubt that the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement, reached on 10 April 1998, was an achievement of historic magnitude. It was a day when politics triumphed over the devastation that had torn Northern Ireland apart since the outbreak of the troubles in the late 1960s. Tomorrow, I will join a number of figures involved in the Agreement to mark the 20th anniversary. To put the Agreement in its proper context, it is worth recalling something of what Northern Ireland had been through in the two decades that preceded it. Over 3,500 men and women lost their lives, with thousands more maimed and injured. Terrorism was a daily fact of life, as was the security presence necessary to counter it. Politics was bitterly divided. Attracting investment and jobs was a hard struggle. – Karen Bradley MP for the Telegraph (£) Juliet Samuel: Britain is about to find out whether it’s really the free-trading nation it claims to be The UK is the home of free trade, the only nation to keep its market unilaterally and fully open for nearly 100 years after 1846, the place where tariffs were denounced in 1905 posters shouting “Stop, thief!” and “Tariff reform means more food taxes”. The Brexit project was in part sold on a promise of once again pursuing a liberalising role on the world stage. There are certainly challenges, such as our attachment to animal welfare standards and the desire for reciprocal access to semi-closed markets like China or India, but on the whole, Britain shuns tariffs and has a positive attitude to foreign trade. Prof Irwin’s analysis of the Thirties should give us pause, however. Trade wars aren’t just about tariffs. They can also spring from misguided attempts to control violent market movements. They can result from a loss of faith in openness and a growing suspicion of international capital. Look at Britain and you can see exactly these sorts of trends, on both Left and Right. – Juliet Samuel for the Telegraph (£) Brexit in brief Trade disputes reveal the EU’s strategic weakness – Wolfgang Munchau for the FT (£) Plans for new centrist political party will ‘end in fiasco’, says Lord Hattersley – Telegraph