Carney says post-Brexit opportunities "very large"

Speaking to BBC School Reporters, Carney said the reason that was a tough day was, not because of the result itself, but because "we had to have a huge number of people co-ordinate with people both here in the UK and... around the world and ensure that everyone did the right thing at the right time so that nobody noticed any ripples as a result of it".

Carney added: "That was tough because you have what we would call executioner - you have a plan but you’ve got to actually put it into place and there’s always a bit of concern that it won’t work perfectly, you haven’t anticipated everything or that somehow or another it just won’t execute the way it should."
 
When asked whether it had worked, he responded "definitely" as "everything that I said about money that was supposed to happen, happened and people could move on from there".

However Carney denied that the 'tough day' was exacerbated by criticisms over whether he had 'taken sides' at the time by saying it was a risk to leave.
 
He responded: "No, not at all – the concern was really just about getting it right. The referendum could have gone either way and it is absolutely our responsibility at the Bank of England to be prepared for these types of contingencies.

"We had everybody in the financial world focussed on this event and we had to get it right. So I felt a tremendous responsibility to make sure that we had prepared properly and that we executed as well as possible. And that’s a strain, it’s interesting – I will be frank with you – it’s interesting, it’s exciting, it’s important and I think we did absolutely get it right. But it’s a tough day, it’s like a big game, it’s exciting but it’s also tough."

When asked which countries outside of the EU he sees as most likely trading allies post Brexit, Carney said that "the opportunity is very large". He said there are a number of countries "including my home country Canada, Australia and a number of the big emerging markets who I am quite confident will want to have deeper trading relationships with the UK because of what the UK has to offer in business, in services, in manufacturing, in design, in culture and in financial services".

But when asked which country he would choose 'if he had to pick one', he answered "Canada, clearly.

Carney continued: "One of the things that is exciting about technology and where the global economy is going is that trade is no longer limited to just big firms, even medium sized firms, you can be a small firm of 3 to 5 people based here and you can sell around the world. And that’s increasingly going to be the case and that’s tremendously exciting for all of you and it really plays to the strengths of the UK because this is a really, truly innovative country."