Brexit 10 years on: Business does not want a referendum rerun, says CBI chief
British businesses are focused on the future and do not want a rerun of the Brexit referendum, the leader of the UK’s largest business lobby group has warned.
Speaking to the FT, CBI director-general Rain Newton-Smith, on the tenth anniversary of the referendum, stated that despite the economic pain of leaving the EU, businesses don’t want to go back.
“The evidence is compelling and indisputable that Brexit has created costs for business. But businesses aren’t looking to re-litigate the referendum,” she said. “None of the business leaders I speak to want to reopen that debate.”
The UK voted to leave the world’s largest trading bloc ten years ago today. On the anniversary, and with changes to government leadership, there are fresh calls for a deeper rapprochement with Brussels than what was being offered by Sir Keir Starmer.
This comes as trade specialists and economists warned that the Labour government’s “reset” deal with the EU, struck in May last year, is not delivering substantial gains in growth.
Now, with Starmer stepping down as Prime Minister, companies are scrutinising the position of his likely successor, Andy Burnham. While Burnham has said previously he would like to rejoin the EU, he has since backtracked on that and insisted membership of the bloc was not a priority.
Britain outside EU faces tough competition
Despite the political leaders’ positions, Newton-Smith said the business world had moved on, especially after the UK signed trade deals with countries such as India and oil-rich Gulf states.
“Five years ago, businesses would have supported joining the customs union. But the reality is the world has changed. So, no, CBI members aren’t asking to join the customs union,” she added.
However, Newton-Smith acknowledged that Britain outside the EU was at risk of being shut out of continental value chains by Brussels increasingly moving towards protectionist ‘buy European’ policies.
“With the UK increasingly caught in the middle of American and Chinese industrial firepower, this is the very definition of a ‘lose-lose’ outcome. We can’t let politics get in the way of our mutual competitiveness,” she added.