Ministers round on firms for undermining Prime Minister

Senior Cabinet ministers have rounded on Airbus and other firms after they questioned the UK Government’s handling of Brexit negotiations.

Jeremy Hunt accused them of making “completely inappropriate” threats, warning that undermining Prime Minister Theresa May could lead to a disastrous “fudge”.

Liam Fox warned that taking “no deal” off the table during Brussels negotiations would weaken the UK’S bargaining position.

Their comments came after Airbus, Siemens and BMW all raised concerns about the direction of travel in negotiations and urged the government to provide greater clarity.

Health and Social Care Secretary Mr Hunt said the country needed to ignore “siren voices”, telling the BBC’S Andrew Marr Show: “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.”

Airbus, which employed 14,000 people in Britain, threatened to quit the UK in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Ian Robertson, BMW’S special representative in the UK, said uncertainty was causing problems for the industry.