Brexit are needed now’ – business leaders

Briggs said the conclusions of the European Council summit “still leaves business in limbo” and “it looks as if December is shaping up to be a Brexit cliffhanger”.

Labour MP Wes Streeting, a supporter of the pro-EU Open Britain campaign, said: “Internal preparations mean nothing unless the talks can progress to a stage where trade and our future relationship can actually be negotiated.

“The clock is ticking, and the Government has spectacularly failed to move the talks on by the original October deadline. This council summit has done little to arrest the countdown to a hard and destructive Brexit that will damage our trade with Europe and put jobs at risk.”

Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman Tom Brake said: “The Prime Minister cannot say one thing in Brussels and another in Britain. She needs to face down the right-wing Brexiteers in her party in order to guarantee the talks actually move forward. Above all she still needs to protect citizens’ rights to ensure they are not a casualty of a no deal Brexit, and the European Union must also do more to make this happen.”

Allie Renison, head of EU and trade policy at the Institute of Directors, warned that “rigidity will cost both sides dearly” in the talks.

“No one should treat this as a simple game of brinkmanship; the livelihoods of too many businesses and employees are at stake,” she said.

“We hope EU member states will use the next two months to work constructively with the European Commission and the UK so that discussion on our future relationship and interim arrangements in particular starts before the end of the year.

“Finally, while we know there is a risk of all parties failing to reach a deal, it is important that this does not become an overriding fixation for the UK.”