Brexit Bulletin: A New Order

Days to Brexit deadline: 87

(Bloomberg) --

Today in Brexit: A rowdy Parliament heads into an election with a new referee.

What's happening? The election campaign kicks off with a new speaker to keep order in Parliament's House of Commons, with Lindsay Hoyle promising to be an antidote to his divisive predecessor.

Hoyle won the contest promising to heal divisions in the lower chamber, write Bloomberg's Jessica Shankleman and Robert Hutton. The febrile atmosphere of Brexit has led to lawmakers receiving death threats and some have stepped down as a result. 

Unlike his famous predecessor John Bercow, the 62-year-old Hoyle has never revealed which way he voted on Brexit. Bercow was speaker for a decade and has catapulted the role into the public consciousness with his sharp asides and his determination to give Parliament a say in the Brexit process. 

The choice of speaker could be crucial if neither side wins a majority in the election. Bercow at times steered the process, refusing to grant another vote on former Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal and empowering lawmakers to take control of the agenda.

The new speaker and former Bercow deputy said one of his first acts would be to call a summit of party leaders to find a way of taking the “nastiness” out of politics. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn clearly hadn't got the memo. On Monday, Johnson accused his rival of creating “dither and delay” on Brexit, while Corbyn is due to say in a speech today that the Tory leader was “hijacking” the process to cut workers' rights and increase the role of U.S. companies in the National Health Service.

Today's Must-Reads

• Johnson heads into the election battle confident he can count on the support of at least one loyal constituency: hedge funds, report Bloomberg's Harry Wilson, Liam Vaughan and Nishant Kumar.
• Don't write off Corbyn yet, argues Robert Shrimsley in the Financial Times. The asymmetry of this election means Labour could lose and still put its leader in Downing Street as head of an anti-Johnson administration.
• Corbyn is determined to fight an aggressive attacking campaign against the Tories, with Labour party strategists drawing up a list of almost 100 seats that could be within their sights, writes the Guardian's Heather Stewart.

Brexit in Brief

Three-Way Debate | Sky News proposed a live election debate later this month with Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, as well as the Prime Minister and leader of the opposition. Sky had originally suggested a two-way debate, but now believes it's sensible to let the public see a wider range of views. Swinson also threatened legal action against the broadcaster ITV after she was left out of its own planned leaders TV debate.

Delayed Intelligence |  A report into whether Russia has interfered in British elections won't be published until after the Dec. 12 general election. Parliament's cross-party Intelligence and Security Committee, which has oversight of the U.K.'s secret agencies MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, has been investigating the threat posed by Russia.

Listing Rules | Downing Street has held exploratory talks with the investment industry to potentially change listing rules to encourage companies, such as tech start-ups, to float in London as a way to boost the city after Brexit, the Financial Times reports.

Building Slump | U.K. construction extended its longest contraction since 2013 in October as domestic political turmoil and a weak economic backdrop weighed on demand. IHS Markit's index of building activity rose to 44.2, from 43.3 in September, but remained below the 50 threshold that indicates expansion for a sixth month.

Middle Ranking | Britain may be heading for 1970s-style levels of government spending, but the burden will still be less than in France, Italy and Germany. If Labour wins the general election, public expenditure in the U.K. could rise to 43.3% of economic output by 2023, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank. That's just below the average elsewhere in the Group of Seven, as forecast by the International Monetary Fund.

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To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Kay at ckay5@bloomberg.net, Leila Taha

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