The City must come first in Brexit deals

Brexit will be a success for Britain in the long-term. But, as Eurosceptics have always said, there are short-term challenges that need to be faced. The EU is protectionist; many Europeans would like nothing more than to reduce British competitiveness. The Government has done well to address the concerns of some industries based in the UK, such as car manufacturers, but one critical sector has been overlooked. The Government has got to put the future of the City at the heart of its Brexit negotiations.

This is urgent. The industry needs to see that the Government cares about it too. At the moment, many bank bosses fear that a weakened May government, terrified by the Left-wing onslaught, is too worried to defend our key industry. The vacuum is encouraging them to pre-emptively relocate resources to the continent, even though they would much prefer to keep them here. A strong message and vision from the Government would address this.

It will take time to get a transitional agreement and even longer to sign a post-brexit free trade agreement on financial services. The EU negotiators need to be told with immediate effect that this is one of the UK’S key objectives. The danger now is that time will be wasted and that this will cause needless damage to the City, as firms put into place plan Bs that are in fact premature.

It is also imperitive to send a message to the wider world that the UK wants to sign deals to open up trade in financial and other services. If we do nothing to defend the City vis a vis Europe and don’t seem to care about market access for finance, why would anyone assume we are serious about exploiting global markets? Our free trade deal with the US, when it comes, needs to prioritise the City.

Fighting for this might not be popular and it goes against the desire of some Tories to appease the Corbynites. But it would be madness for Britain to shoot itself in the foot because of popular ignorance over what the City really does or for fear of making the case for it. The fact is that the British economy is made up of many parts, and the Government should be negotiating for the best deal for all of them. Brexit will come with costs as well as benefits, but the Tories must have the courage to argue for what is truly in the national interest.