Getting Euro perspective on Brexit proved an eye-opener

LAST week I spent three days at the NEC talking to people from Europe attending three business shows there – Euro Bus Expo, Advanced Engineering and Lab Innovations.

I was fascinated by some of the replies to my stock question: How do you view Brexit?

Several said it was very unfortunate that the UK is leaving the club. Some said the British electorate were wrong to vote for Brexit, and that we should be given another chance to correct our “mistake”.

Such views were expressed by visitors from Holland, France and Germany.

From an Italian lady came the comment that she hoped her country would not follow the UK lead, although she feared that the new Government in Rome could cause a lot of difficulties with Brussels, the outcome of which she was not sure.

However, from a number of visitors came the view that they wished their country could have the option of a referendum, and that they thought that Michel Barnier had overplayed his hand.

They were very fearful that the UK would not be offered a deal that they would accept, and that we might go WTO (World Trade Organization) rules.

If that happened, then collectively they feared that the UK would be in a position to impose tariffs on their goods.

By common consent, the British market is very important to manufacturing on the continent.

This is reflected in the fact that we import from Europe more than we export.

There was quite a lot of comment about the fact that Brussels would be asking for more money from remaining member states if Britain left, for our contribution to the EU budget would be greatly missed.

What was heartening was the universal approval of the NEC as a place to do business, with excellent hotels on site, albeit, it was claimed, a bit on the expensive side.

Transport links were judged to be very good, but there were several moans about late trains.

For me it was an eye-opening three days. Russell Luckock is chairman of Birmingham pressings firm

AE Harris