We need some Brexit optimism and a Norway-style route out of the EU

This is the Maggie Pagano on Business weekly newsletter for Reaction subscribers.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. That man may well be Raghuram Rajan, the former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, who believes that Britain can benefit from being outside the European Union. He sympathises with those who want to break free of its “profoundly undemocratic centralisation of power” and reckons the EU needs to reform.

It may seem odd to be mentioning Rajan’s hugely optimistic comments the day after Theresa May’s second crippling defeat in the House of Commons, and the prospect of more months of uncertainty if there is an extension to Article 50.

But if ever there was need of a little Indian tonic it is now. And we should listen carefully to Rajan’s words, not only because he’s such an outspoken and well-respected economist, but because some say he is being lined up to replace Mark Carney as Governor of the Bank of England.