Japanese PM: Britain must avoid no-deal
Japan’s prime minister urged Theresa May to prevent a no-deal Brexit as the pair met at the G20 summit in Argentina yesterday.
Shinzo Abe delivered his plea after warnings from Japanese companies over the additional costs and bureaucracy they would face if Britain withdraws from the EU without a deal.
Abe told May: “I would like to take this opportunity to express my tribute to your leadership in realising the Withdrawal Agreement.
“Also I would like to once again ask for your support to avoid no deal, as well as to ensure transparency, predictability as well as legal stability in the Brexit process.”
May assured him that the agreement she sealed in Brussels was “a good deal for businesses in the UK”.
Trade was top of the agenda for the Prime Minister’s talks, as she met leaders of some of the countries with which the UK hopes to strike deals following Brexit in Buenos Aires.
The leader of the Best for Britain campaign for a second referendum, Eloise Todd, said: “Even the Japanese PM can tell that the Government hasn’t got the Brexit process on track.
“The only way out of the Brexit gridlock is to give the decision back to the people through a campaign based on informed consent, facts not fear, and exposing the human impact that Brexit would have.”
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that she had shown “great resilience and great determination on one of the most vexed issues I think there is”.
He praised her “determination to do that in typical British fashion”, adding: “I think you know you have our support in continuing to bring it to a good resolution.”