Lack of progress on Brexit talks could cost jobs, businesses warn
Concern at slow pace of negotiations with Europe
EUROPEAN BUSINESS leaders warned Theresa May last night that jobs and investment in the UK could be lost unless urgent progress is made in the Brexit talks.
The Prime Minister was told that businesses are “extremely concerned” at the slow pace of negotiations with Brussels and it was vital that trade talks were given the green light in December’s summit of EU leaders.
Mrs May was also urged to keep the UK within the customs union and single market in a transitional arrangement after the formal split from Brussels in March 2019 – and to secure agreement on that by Christmas.
The Prime Minister told the gathering of business leaders from across the EU that she wanted to agree an implementation period “as soon as possible”.
Emma Marcegaglia, president of the lobbying group Business Europe, said: “Business is extremely concerned with the slow pace of negotiations and the lack of progress only one month before the decisive December European Council.”
After the meeting in Downing Street, she told reporters: “We don’t want uncertainty, we are very concerned.
“We know that if companies don’t see certainty probably they will have a contingency plan and probably they will leave the UK, or they will invest less.
“So, these two weeks are extremely important.”
Ms Marcegaglia said both the UK and Brussels had to work to secure a deal.
“My view is that they both have to work more,” she said, but because it was the UK’s decision to leave, it was for Mrs May to put a “real, concrete proposal” on the table.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) as well as organisations from Germany, France and other European Union nations were present at the talks with Mrs May, Business Secretary Greg Clark and Brexit Secretary David Davis.
CBI director-general Carolyn Fairbairn said firms are “beginning to press the button” to implement contingency plans in preparation for a no-deal Brexit, but progress in the negotiations could result in a “win-win” situation. “The overall impact, undoubtedly, of the ongoing uncertainty is fewer jobs, less investment, less economic prosperity across Europe,” she said.
“That was the mutual interest that was dominating today in the meeting, the idea that there is a win-win out here – sometimes it feels like lose-lose, we can turn this round into win-win and the next few weeks will be absolutely critical to that.”
The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier indicated on Friday that progress was needed within two weeks on so-called divorce issues – including the financial settlement – for the bloc’s leaders to consider moving on to the next stage of negotiations, which would look at a trade deal and transitional arrangements.
A Downing Street spokesman said that at the meeting the Prime Minister “reiterated her ambition for free and frictionless trade with the EU27 once the UK departs”.
“She also expressed her commitment to giving businesses the certainty they need by agreeing a time-limited implementation period as soon as possible.”
Mr Davis told the group there was an “important role” for business leaders to play and “underlined that economic considerations should be to the fore in the negotiations”.
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said leaving the EU without a deal could bring down the Government and appealed to Tory rebels to back efforts to water down one of Mrs May’s negotiating red lines. Sir Keir told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “No deal is a very, very bad outcome.”
£20BN The initial Brexit divorce bill offer made by Theresa May, which is expected to rise.