Firms told: Stop Brexit threats

Hunt warns big business not to undermine PM in EU talks

MINISTERS hit back at big business yesterday for ‘undermining’ Theresa May on Brexit, warning it increased the risk of a bad deal with Brussels.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt rounded on the French-based aerospace giant Airbus for making ‘completely inappropriate’ threats.

And International Trade Secretary Liam Fox urged corporations worried about the risk of a ‘no deal’ Brexit to put pressure on Brussels to secure one.

Airbus, which employs 14,000 people in the UK, warned last week that it could quit the country if Britain leaves the EU without a deal.

This was followed up by a claim from BMW that its British operations would become ‘less competitive’ unless ministers provide clarity on future trading relationships with the EU soon.

Yesterday it emerged that five business lobby groups, headed by the Confederation of British Industry, have written to the Prime Minister warning that a lack of clarity on Brexit ‘could cost the UK economy billions of pounds’.

They have copied in Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, and Donald Tusk, president of the European Council.

Asked about the intervention from Airbus, Mr Hunt told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show yesterday: ‘I thought it was completely inappropriate for businesses to be making these kinds of threats for one very simple reason.

‘We are at an absolutely critical moment in the Brexit discussions and what that means is that we need to get behind Theresa May to deliver the best possible Brexit – a clean Brexit.

‘What businesses want... is clarity and certainty and the more that we undermine Theresa May, the more likely we are to end up with a fudge, which would be an absolute disaster for everyone.’

Meanwhile, Dr Fox told Sky News: ‘Companies are right to say that if there’s no deal that won’t be good for Britain, but it won’t be good for Europe either.

‘The point I make to them is that they should also be making the same case to European governments. That will be bad for them in an era where we have got complex integrated supply chains. It will be necessarily bad for both sides.’

Senior Tories believe big business is being urged to speak out publicly by leading Cabinet Remainers, including Business Secretary Greg Clark and Chancellor Philip Hammond, in order to strengthen their hand in the debate about future trading relations with the EU.

Some in Downing Street believe pro-Remain ministers are using business to try to tilt the debate ahead of a crunch meeting at Chequers next month when the Cabinet will try to thrash out its strategy for future dealings with the EU.

Mr Clark held private talks with Airbus days before it spoke out. And yesterday it emerged that he holds weekly meetings with a coalition of business lobby groups that have issued a fresh warning over Brexit to the Prime Minister.

In a joint letter, the CBI, Institute of Directors, Engineering Employers Federation, British Chambers of Commerce and Federation of Small Businesses warn that firms are starting to pull investment from the UK because of frustration over Brexit talks.

The five groups warn: ‘The business community is concerned that time is running out.’ The intervention will fuel growing government irritation at the role being played by business to prevent a clean break with the EU.

Both the CBI and EEF have called for the UK to stay in the customs union, preventing Britain from setting an independent trade policy.

Boris Johnson is reported to have responded to a question about business concerns this month by saying: ‘F*** business.’

Former CBI chief Digby Jones said yesterday Brexit divisions were undermining Mrs May’s negotiating position, making it harder for her to say credibly that she is prepared to walk away without a deal.

Lord Jones, a former Labour trade minister, added: ‘If the whole country had come together on this right at the start, if Michel Barnier [the EU’s chief negotiator] and Berlin were presented with a united front in Britain at the start, then walking away would not have been a catastrophe.’ At the weekend, Mr Johnson appeared to question Mrs May’s softly- softly tactics, saying voters ‘don’t want some bog roll Brexit – soft, yielding and seemingly infinitely long’.

Calling for a ‘full British Brexit’, the Foreign Secretary added voters ‘don’t want some sort of hopeless compromise, some perpetual pushme, pull-you arrangement in which we stay half in and half out in a political no man’s land.

But Mr Hunt said: ‘If you look at the approach Theresa May has taken to Brexit, what you can see is someone who has the instincts of a Brexiteer, but the cautious pragmatism of a Remainer, which is where I think the British people are.’

‘Fudge would be an absolute disaster’

WHEN will business lobby groups stop talking Britain down and start fighting for their members’ true interests?

This paper puts the question as it emerges that five such bodies, headed by the ever-Remoaning CBI, have written to Theresa May warning that firms are ‘actively considering’ moving work from the Uk amid a lack of Brexit ‘clarity’.

They should be aiming their fire at Brussels – whose negotiators, not ours, demand obstacles to Uk-EU trade – while Mrs May fights to retain the freest possible access for both sides.

In their letter, which they’ve copied to Jean- Claude Juncker and European Council president Donald Tusk, they even echo the EU’s favourite jeer at our negotiating team: ‘The clock is ticking.’

Whose side are they on? Surely they realise that by suggesting the Uk will suffer if no progress is made, they encourage Eurocrats to sit back and do nothing – making a bad deal more likely.

If they had their members’ interests at heart, they would stress the pain that EU firms will suffer if Brussels doesn’t get a move on towards striking a fair deal.

Indeed, they should take their cue from Heathrow boss John Holland-kaye, a former Remainer who now hails Brexit as an opportunity to become a ‘great, outward-looking trading nation’ again.

Is anyone at the CBI listening? Or are they all too busy moping over the referendum result to fight for their members’ future?