Yahoo Finance Top business chief says UK firms 'complacent' over no-deal Brexit risk
The head of a leading British business group has warned against “complacency” among firms about the risk of Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal.
Edwin Morgan, interim director general of the Institute of Directors, told Bloomberg a no-deal Brexit was still a real threat, warning that many firms may still be unprepared in October.
He suggested Britain may fall out of the EU, whose member states make up its largest trading partner, by accident or European leaders could even be so frustrated by the political deadlock in Britain they let it happen.
Parliament has repeatedly voted down a no-deal outcome, but it has also voted down several possible forms of Brexit over the past few months. The legal default remains Britain leaving with or without an agreement in October this year.
Morgan also said the Conservatives could replace their leader in the coming months with a politician committed to leaving the EU with or without a deal.
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Prime minister Theresa May is under unprecedented pressure from her backbenchers and party member to break the Brexit deadlock or quit.
The agreement she reached with Brussels on the terms of divorce has been repeatedly rejected by MPs, and few observers hold out much hope of ongoing cross-party talks leading to a breakthrough.
Morgan did not explicitly mention the looming European elections, but a poor showing for the Conservatives could up the pressure still further on May to stand down.
Momentum appears to have grown in recent weeks for Nigel Farage’s Brexit party. Some polls have put it out front as the likely victor in the European parliamentary elections next month, with one at the weekend giving it a 34% share of the vote - more than the projected Labour and Conservative vote combined.
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But it is the governing Conservatives who are widely seen as most likely to suffer from any Brexit party surge, after pro-Brexit voters seemingly punished them in the recent local elections for failing to deliver Brexit as promised on 29 March.
A Brexit party surge at the expense of the Conservatives, who appear so resigned to big losses they did not even hold an official campaign launch, could embolden leadership candidates prepared to leave the EU without a deal.
Morgan told Bloomberg: “We do have the risk of no deal happening by accident and businesses still being unprepared. There’s a bit of a feeling of complacency.”
He said a no-deal Brexit was “a higher possibility than parliament is currently saying,”
