CBI: We can trade with EU and world
BRITAIN can create a close post-Brexit relationship with Europe AND build up its global trade, the head of the Confederation of British Industry will say tonight.
CBI director general Carolyn Fairbairn will denounce as a “false choice” claims that Britain can either be close to the European Union or thrive on the world stage.
It will be seen as an unusually upbeat assessment of the post-Brexit future from an organisation which has been consistently gloomy about leaving the EU.
But Ms Fairbairn is also underlining the CBI’s desire for the UK to retain very close links with the EU, stressing that Britain does not need to be free from Brussels to boost world trade links.
Speaking at the CBI’s annual Chinese New Year Dinner for businesspeople and political leaders across the Sino-British community, she will say the UK can and should enjoy growing trade with old and new partners. “As we leave the EU, we are rightly becoming more outwardlooking, just as China continues to reform and open up its markets,” she will tell guests.
“Many people have claimed that we are at a junction where we can either stay close to Europe or become a more global Britain. This is a false choice.
“The high value of trade deals signed by British companies on the Prime Minister’s mission to China earlier this month provides the evidence.”