Seek three-year Brexit transition

British business leaders have urged Prime Minister Theresa May to seek a three-year transitional period after Brexit, warning that failure to secure more time would jeopardise “our collective prosperity”.

British business leaders have urged Prime Minister Theresa May to seek a three-year transition period after Brexit, warning failure to secure more time would jeopardise “our collective prosperity”. In a letter organised by the Confederation of British Industry, executives from 120 businesses with 1-million employees again warned of a cliff edge in which Britain leaves the EU in March 2019 without a new trade deal or enough time for companies to adjust.

Signatories included representatives Johnson & Johnson, Centrica, Zurich Insurance Group and Harrods.

“Our businesses need to make decisions now about investment and employment that will affect economic growth and jobs in the future,” they wrote in the letter. “Continuing uncertainty will adversely affect communities, employees, firms and our nations in the future.”

While May’s cabinet seems to have struck an agreement to push for a transition, there remains disagreement over how long it should run. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has sided with business in suggesting three years.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Trade Secretary Liam Fox are reported to favour a shorter time frame.

“Businesses are deeply concerned about Brexit,” Carolyn Fairbairn, the confederation’s director-general, wrote in the letter in the Sunday Times.

“After three rounds of Brexit talks marked by hardball headlines and snail’s-pace progress, the prospect of ‘no deal’ in March 2019 feels all too real. The costs of this are serious.”