Theresa May flags ‘hard Brexit’ but business groups and eurosceptics demand more detail
May must balance the will of the electorate with the demands of a fractious party and the desire of business for as little disruption as possible
Business groups and opposition parties pressed Prime Minister Theresa May for more detail after she said she’ll start pulling the UK out of the European Union in the first quarter of 2017, and hinted that she’s tending toward a so-called “hard Brexit”.
The premier told her Conservative Party’s annual conference in Birmingham, central England, that she’ll invoke Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty – the formal trigger for two years of talks – by the end of March. May also said she’ll introduce a bill to convert all existing EU laws into UK legislation to provide certainty for business and investors. But she left unanswered most questions about what Brexit will actually look like.
The prime minister has removed one big question – on timing – but has accelerated an urgent need for answers on others
“The prime minister has removed one big question – on timing – but has accelerated an urgent need for answers on others,” Confederation of British Industry Director-General Carolyn Fairbairn said in a statement. “Businesses cannot continue to operate in the dark in other areas.”
May, attending her first Tory conference as leader after June’s referendum decision to quit the EU upended British politics, is having to balance the will of the electorate with the demands of a fractious party and the desire of business for as little disruption as possible. The pound is meanwhile being undermined by speculation of a hard Brexit in which Britain would willingly surrender membership of the single market for trade in return for more power over immigration, law-making and the budget.
The decisions business face “are real and pressing,” said Fairbairn. “The government’s desire to play its negotiating cards close to its chest must be tempered by clear indications on how we will trade with the UK’s most important partner and how firms will be able to employ the people needed to drive growth.”
May on Sunday pledged to control immigration in Britain’s best interests while retaining access for business to the single market, seeking “the best deal possible” for UK companies.