Mark Carney to extend term as Bank of England governor to help an ‘orderly’ Brexit… Bank of England governor Mark Carney is to extend his term by one year to help secure an “orderly” exit from Europe. But the decision to stay until June 2019 falls short of speculation that he would serve a full eight-year term until 2021. Mr Carney said, in a letter to Chancellor Philip Hammond, that he was staying on beyond the initial five-year period he said he would serve. – Sky News Investors reacted positively to news that Mark Carney will stay on as Governor of the Bank of England for an extra one year until mid-2019, despite questions remaining as to why he will not stay for an extra three year term as expected. Sterling popped to an intra-day high against the dollar of $1.2240 shortly after the announcement was made at 6pm, and up 0.2pc against the euro at €1.114. – Daily Telegraph …news of which was welcomed by Downing Street… Prime Minister Theresa May said Mr Carney’s decision to stay for an extra year would provide “continuity and stability as we negotiate our exit from the European Union”.Chancellor Philip Hammond also said he welcomed Mr Carney’s decision to stay an additional year. He said it would enable Mr Carney to continue his “highly effective leadership of the Bank through a critical period for the British economy as we negotiate our exit from the European Union”. – BBC …as he gets mixed reviews from the commentariat The Governor of the Bank of England was being bullied by his critics over the referendum. But he would have been slagged off just as badly if he had kept schtum over Brexit. He was damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. – Sean O’Grady in The Independent Carney has not done that much. In almost five years in the job, he has tweaked interest rates once, with a quarter-point cut in the summer, and even that turned out to be a mistake. He’s photogenic and he talks well. But he has done very little to improve the British economy. The markets have rumbled that he is not very effective – and they no longer care much whether he stays or goes. In truth, neither should anyone else. – Matthew Lynn for The Spectator’s Coffee House blog Some Brexiteers flush with victory seem to have forgotten that undermining a Governor of the Bank of England is the markets equivalent of playing with matches in a petrol station – Iain Martin for Reaction Mark Carney’s compromise deal is the best solution – Allister Heath in the Daily Telegraph Mark Carney is what stands between Britain and economic chaos – Daniel Blanchflower for The Guardian The rise, fall and fightback of Mark Carney, the rock star of finance – Tim Wallace in the Daily Telegraph Brexit boom for British tourism as confidence ‘reaches 12-month high’ The survey of UKinbound members, who work in the country’s tourism sector, found 67 per cent are confident that bookings and visitor revenues will increase in the 12 months ahead. In comparison, before Brexit in June just 42 per cent of members were optimistic about the coming year. – Daily Express Virgin Money says it’s ‘business as usual’ after Brexit vote Virgin Money has maintained the strong start it made to the year and has seen no change in customer behaviour since the EU referendum. Jayne-Anne Gadhia, chief executive said the Edinburgh and Newcastle based business is also on track to meet its credit card target. In a statement on its third quarter figure, the company said that since the EU referendum, “the near-term momentum of the UK economy has been more positive than initial projections”. – Daily Business News British farmers celebrate ‘Eggs-it’ as demand for home produced eggs rockets in wake of Brexit vote The surge has been led by food firms looking to cut costs in egg based products like cakes, biscuits and pasta dishes and turning to British egg farmers following the plunging pound. As the poor exchange rate has sent the cost of imported ingredients sky high, the food industry is snapping up supplies of UK eggs.[Ian Jones, chairman of British Lion Egg Processors] said since Brexit , one company that imported 75% of egg products from Europe was now using a British supplier for all its egg based ingredients. – Daily Mirror What Brexit fears? Small businesses show hunger for more credit Lending to small businesses rose at its fastest annual pace since 2012 last month, suggesting that the Brexit vote has done little to dampen companies’ appetite to take on debt. Figures from the Bank of England showed that credit for small and medium-sized businesses showed signs of picking up in September, rising by £842 million, a 2.1 per cent increase compared with the same month last year and the fastest pace of growth since the Bank’s records began four years ago. – The Times (£) ‘Brexit is an optimistic story’ says international economist backing EU departure – Daily Express FCA ‘passporting’ list shows extent of companies and sectors exposed to Brexit risk Banks of all sizes, insurers, as well as construction-supply companies and travel agents, are among the 13,500 companies at risk of losing cross-border “passporting” rights following Brexit. A list by the UK’s financial markets authority, obtained by MLex, shows the breadth of sectors and businesses that might be caught out. – MLex Foreign investors pile into UK bonds as Brexit fears retreat Foreign investors returned in force to the UK bond market in September, snapping up a net £13.3bn in gilts as fears of a full-blown Brexit crisis faded. The purchases are the highest in almost a year and allay fears that central banks, sovereign wealth funds, and Asian institutions may be losing confidence in the blue chip fundamentals of the British state. – Daily Telegraph UK shares near an all-time high since the country’s vote in favour of leaving the EU – Investors Chronicle UK must boost defence budget post-Brexit, says Lord Owen The UK government must boost its defence spending commitment to 2.5% of GDP in a bid to be taken seriously by the US, according to Lord David Owen. The former British foreign secretary said the increase from 2% of GDP would also indicate to the EU that the UK is “even more committed” to European stability after a Brexit. – International Business Times Hilary Benn urged to hold Brexit select committee hearings in devolved nations MPs from the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the rival Northern Irish parties the DUP and SDLP, have written to the new chair of the Brexit committee, Hilary Benn, demanding a platform. In the letter, the MPs call for evidence sessions to be held in each of the devolved nations. – New Statesman British Virgin Islands want a say in Brexit talks – Politico UKIP MEP slams European Parliament Martin Schulz over UK’s Brexit treatment “Schulz has always been the same. He is supposed to be the guardian of the rules. He is supposed to be an even-handed chairman – he is nothing of the sort. He is completely biased, he seeks every opportunity to interject his own views on a debate and he’s an EU federalist of the worst kind. He loves to have a go at Ukip and actually the UK at the same time. Genuinely someone who is a perfect example of why we are better off out.” – Bill Etheridge MEP quoted in the Daily Express MEPs look to deny Jean-Claude Juncker an easy transition of power. – Politico Four candidates in the running to be UKIP leader Paul Nuttall is the runaway favourite to become the next Ukip leader after nominations closed for the election to succeed Nigel Farage… The bookmakers installed Mr Nuttall as the 1-6 favourite to win the top job, with Suzanne Evans, the party’s former deputy chairman, his nearest challenger at 5-1. The field of four is completed by London Assembly member Peter Whittle and John Rees-Evans, a former parliamentary candidate. – The i Ryan Bourne: Post-Brexit tariffs would primarily hurt UK consumers – not European exporters In fact, although the first best economic outcome would be to maintain tariff-free trade with the EU while using exit from the customs union to embrace unilateral free trade with the rest of the world, facing EU tariffs on our exported goods is not a good reason to adopt a tariff structure ourselves in return. This is why the Economists for Brexit group, of which I am a member, has suggested that Britain should adopt unilateral free trade irrespective of whether it obtains a tariff-free trade agreement with the EU. – Ryan Bourne for City A.M. Brexit doesn’t mean isolationism – Douglas Carswell’s blog Tariff-free access to EU post-Brexit has downsides – Yahoo News Delphine Strauss: How British jobs for British workers can happen after Brexit There should be no attempt to limit work-related migration to a list of shortage occupations or to highly skilled roles. This is a recipe for endless lobbying but is inevitably a subjective judgment. There will never be enough British workers willing to pick strawberries, but do we need British strawberries? The NHS struggles to recruit nurses, but surely this would change if it offered better pay and progression? It would be better to introduce a mechanism that made it more costly — but not punitively so — for an employer to hire abroad. This could include the resident labour market test, but too often this process forces employers to jump through administrative hoops rather than mirroring a genuine job search. – Delphine Strauss for the FT (£) Ted Bromund: Why Remain lost the Brexit vote Whether Remain could have won is unknowable. But I’m fairly sure that what it needed to win wasn’t just a better deal from the EU. The problem was that the British people had, by 2016, figured out that the EU wasn’t a study in political cooperation: it was an exercise of political control. – Ted Bromund for Forbes Brexit comment in brief Why all Conservatives should want Parliament to have the final say on Article 50 – Matthew Scott for the Daily Telegraph Britain doesn’t need to bluff about Brexit – David Green for The Spectator’s Coffee House blog The EU needs London’s financial wizardry – Philip Geddes for EurActiv A reminder of why we voted Leave – Campaign for an Independent Britain The failure of the euro – John Lanchester in The New Yorker ‘Super’ Mario Draghi marks five years at the top of the European Central Bank – Julian Harris in City A.M. Brexit news in brief Scottish businesses remain resilient despite Brexit uncertainty – The Press & Journal Ireland invites parties and business to all-island Brexit dialogue – FT (£) Japan demands talks with UK Government over Brexit strategy – Bloomberg Brexit makes Football Manager 2017 the deepest game yet – Arts Technica And finally… Is dressing as Brexit for Halloween the most biting satire of 2016? – The Tab