Investments will stave off Brexit fears

IT HAS been a few months since the referendum on Brexit and we have seen a lot of economic data and retail sales figures.

But the picture is still cloudy, with no certainty until further figures are released in October.

We are in extraordinary times, but perhaps the soothsayers were wrong about the recession that would follow a Brexit vote given that it seems business is continuing as usual.

Among the confusion over economic data, one thing is certain when looking at the FTSE and SMEs throughout the West Midlands: domestically-focused sectors are losing out to internationally focused sectors.

This may be a short-term phenomenon as a result of the fall in the GBP against the dollar and the euro.

Given it is business as usual for the UK and I am keen to avoid us talking ourselves into recession, we should not fall into a false sense of security as the Article 50 negotiations have not yet started and may not happen until the German and French elections have occurred. This was a point made by Herman Van Rompuy, a former European Council president, recently.

From a corporate lawyer’s perspective, what I have seen is that the change in the UK economy has not been the hard handbrake slowdown which everybody expected but, instead, a slow and gradual decrease in investment. Will this slowdown on investment have a knock-on effect on productivity and output for the UK?

That is why it is welcome news that Hinkley Point has been given the go-ahead, notwithstanding reservations surrounding the Chinese investment, security and the high guaranteed price of electricity as, whatever happens, this project will create thousands of new jobs, in the same way HS2 will, and this will be a shot in the arm to the supply chains in the UK.

Let us hope that a decision on a new runway for Heathrow can also be given the go-ahead in order to keep the economy of UK plc away from the beast that is stalking it from the long grass, in other words, recession.

We need to continue to put our best foot forward and continue to invest for future growth.