Rudd wavers on proposal for employee nationality statistics Asked whether she was prepared to “name and shame” companies which did not comply by publishing a breakdown of the nationality of their workforce, Ms Rudd told BBC Radio 4’s Today it was “not something we are definitely going to do” but it was “one of the tools” under review “as a way of nudging people into better behaviour”. – BBC Sofa firm boss hits back at Home Secretary after she attacks him on live radio over foreign workers – Daily Telegraph Ruth Davidson challenges ‘hard’ Brexit Tories by arguing immigrants must be welcomed The Scottish Tory leader used her keynote speech to a packed hall in Birmingham to argue that the Government must remember there are “people and homes and families” who will be hit by the UK’s new immigration rules after it leaves the EU. With the Cabinet watching on, Ms Davidson urged the Tories to be “internationalist in outlook” and delivered a direct message to economic migrants who have moved to the UK, saying: “This is your home, and you are welcome here.” – Daily Telegraph Nicola Sturgeon slams Theresa May’s ‘deeply ugly’ vision of Brexit Britain – Sunday Post online UK must not go down slippery slope and become insular post-Brexit, says the Institute of Directors – Yorkshire Post Suzanne Moore: The message of Brexit was mixed. Now we are told it was simply a referendum on immigration – The Guardian David Davis “100 per cent sure” that EU migrants working in Britain can stay after Brexit “We have no intention of deporting people or treating people who, through no fault of their own, are here during the middle of a transition to their own country, but what we have to do is also keep in mind the rights of British citizens abroad and so we’ll fix the whole thing together and I’m absolutely 100 per cent sure we’ll be able to do that and there will be no difficulty for anybody.” – David Davis quoted on The Spectator’s Coffee House blog UK has four Brexit red lines, says David Davis aide Stewart Jackson, Brexit Secretary David Davis’ parliamentary private secretary, said the Government has outlined central planks on which it will not compromise going into negotiations. They are an end to the free movement of people, making laws in Westminster, freedom from the jurisdiction of European judges and no more payments to the EU coffers. – Politics Home Chancellor to tell Wall Street that City will still be financial centre after Brexit The chancellor has slipped in a visit to New York on his way to Washington, where he will attend the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund, so he can meet the bosses of major employers in the UK such as Goldman Sachs, Citi and Morgan Stanley. His trip has been scheduled at a time when major City firms are concerned about the Conservative party’s approach to the UK leaving the European Union. There have been reports that Theresa May’s government does not intend to give financial services special treatment during Brexit trade talks, although on Wednesday the Financial Times reported that the UK could pay a fee to remain a member of the single market. – The Guardian Economy performing better than expected after Brexit vote, admits BoE deputy governor A slowdown in the U.K. economy since the country voted to leave the European Union has been more moderate than what the Bank of England feared, one of the central bank’s top officials said Wednesday. Ben Broadbent, deputy governor for monetary policy, said at a speech in London hosted by WSJ Pro Central Banking that the economy has performed better than expected because of stronger consumption and a weaker pound. He added that the housing market has held up better than predicted, too. – Wall Street Journal Carney has October pause to decide BOE future in Brexit economy – Bloomberg It’s time to rely less on data, Bank of England admits – The Times (£) Weak post-Brexit vote growth forecast likely to be wrong, says Bank MPC member – The Guardian Pressure on Bank of England to cut rates further eases – Sky News Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan claims that EU was “very bad” for British business and that Brexit will aid the country’s economy “For the ones who do most of their trade in the UK who won’t really have any significant impact at all, the EU has been very bad at service generally. The EU doesn’t really cover service and we do now have opportunity to expand into the rest of the world. The really key thing is to look at, not our deal with the 27 other countries, but the deals with the countries that are not in the EU that account for 95 per cent of the economic growth this century – especially those who speak English and have a common law. Those are our natural markets,” stated Hannan – The Drum Angela Merkel urges German firms to back tough stance in Brexit talks Merkel appealed to German firms to show a united front with EU governments in negotiations over Britain’s departure from the bloc, urging them to support the principle of “full access to the single market only in exchange for signing up to the four freedoms”.If any one country was allowed an exception, she said, “you can imagine how all countries will put put conditions on free movement with other countries. And that would create an extremely difficult situation.” – The Guardian Tim Marshall: There is no way the EU can survive in its current form Across the continent, the unthinkable, is becoming thinkable. Brexit is not the cause, it is a symptom, but what Brexit will do is potentially offer a route map to others who want out, or least a changed EU on different terms. So, ever closer Union? The breakup of the Union? Or, a restructured Union? My guess is the latter. – Tim Marshall for The What and The Why James Delingpole: I want my Brexit good and strong (and Theresa May seems to agree) Since the result [of the referendum] , lots of commentators have speculated on what it really meant: was it anti-immigration, was it about a yearning for sovereignty, was it about protest, fish, economics, freedom? And Theresa May has wisely recognised that her legacy will largely depend on how successfully she answers these questions. I think the solution is more basic than our experts realise: what most of us would really like, for a change, is a state that represents our interests. Let me give you an obvious example of this — one that happily Theresa May has addressed already: the legal harassment of our troops. – James Delingpole for The Spectator 47% of Britons want a ‘hard’ Brexit – Business Insider UK Victor Hill: The UK’s Brexit negotiating hand is stronger than you think The unfolding crisis in TARGET2 will have massive implications for the Brexit negotiations. It turns out that the British hand is stronger than we thought because the Germans are desperate to accommodate the UK’s aspiration to tariff-free access to the Single Market. Otherwise they will be in big trouble….Despite all the harsh rhetoric in Bratislava that the British can be given no privileged access to the Single Market if they impose immigration controls, behind the scenes, the German political and financial class is worried. They have come to realise, says Herr Beck how weak Germany’s and the EU’s negotiating position actually is. – Victor Hill for the Master Investor blog George Eaton: Brexit was a libertarian dream. It has become a statist one Brexit was a dream born on the Conservatives’ fringes. Its proponents, such as Daniel Hannan and Douglas Carswell, were economic liberals and fiscal conservatives. The post-EU Britain they envisioned would tax less, spend less and borrow less. But policy is not evolving in that direction. Brexit was once heralded by the right, and dreaded by the left, as an opportunity to cast off social legislation. – George Eaton for the New Statesman Brexit comment in brief What Theresa May isn’t telling us about Brexit – Hannah White on CapX May is right about Brexit – but dead wrong about extending state power – Simon Richards for ConservativeHome What the PM gets right about the Brexit litigation – Richard Ekins for Reaction Tories will regret the immigration dog whistle – David Aaronovitch for The Times (£) Brexit talks a “supreme task of complicated analysis” for the civil service – Oliver Letwin for Civil Service World UK services ‘continue to recover’ from Brexit vote – BBC The IMF is wrong to be so gloomy: The British economy is strengthening not weakening post-Brexit – Graeme Leach for City A.M. Brexit news in brief What Brexit? Small businesses yet to see impact of referendum vote – Startups UK Few signs of hope for the Brexit-battered pound – City A.M. Gibraltar rebuffs Spanish proposal for joint sovereignty to save EU status – The Guardian Brexit challengers told ‘no court can challenge the will of the people’ – Herald Scotland ‘Hard’ Brexit ‘could see Scotland lose 80,000 jobs and cost £2,000 a head’ – The Guardian UKIP’s Steven Woolfe and Raheem Kassam to stand for leadership – BBC And finally… PRWeek notes the prominence of the BrexitCentral lanyards in Birmingham Lanyards have become a good medium for ambush marketing at conference. Numerous groups, including Conservative Way Forward, have been handing their own ones out for free, but the most popular and prominent has been news platform BrexitCentral (which is edited by former TaxPayers’ Alliance CEO Jonathan Isaby) and its eye-catching pink ribbons. – PRWeek