Yahoo Finance UK businesses back Theresa May's Brexit deal despite misgivings
The spectre of Peter O’Hanraha-hanrahan hung over Brexit discussions at the Confederation of British Industry’s annual conference on Monday.
For those who don’t know, O’Hanraha-hanrahan was the fictional TV reporter from the BBC’s mid-1990s news satire The Day Today. In one classic scene, O’Hanraha-hanrahan reports on a fresh European trade deal and tells the show’s presenter that the German finance minister “didn’t like the deal, but he had to go along with it.”
That sums up the sentiment of British businesses towards the draft Brexit deal. CBI president John Allan said on Monday that the draft deal, announced last week, was “not perfect, we all know that” but “minimises the damage.” Ross McEwan, the CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland, told the Guardian at the CBI event that the country should “back the prime minister” as there’s no alternative — a lukewarm endorsement at best.
“Business likes and needs certainty. That’s why you’re seeing people rally behind the plan we’ve seen this week because it is a plan,” Liv Garfield, the CEO of FTSE 100 water company Severn Trent, said on stage. By dint of simply existing, CEOs approve the agreement.
Prime minister Theresa May drummed up support for her deal in her speech that was well received by the crowd of 1,500 business people.
The strongest endorsement came when May was challenged by a member of the audience in a Q&A session after her speech. The questioner urged her to “think again about the whole thing” as the draft deal would exclude Britain from striking trade deals with fast-growing emerging markets. He was jeered when he mocked the CBI as the “Confederation of European Industry,” and May provoked strong applause when she began her reply by saying the question was “a little inaccurate.”
Businesses seem happy with May’s exit deal as it’s better than a no deal, which almost all think would be a disaster. There’s less support for May’s vision for post-Brexit Britain, however.
The prime minister made immigration a core theme of her speech, saying that the UK will stop low-skilled migration after Britain left the EU. She argued that this would benefit businesses by prioritising access to top global talent, but industry leaders weren’t so sure.
The CBI’s director general warned that the changes would likely blow a hole in the British economy and Rolls-Royce CEO Warren East warned that his business was already losing staff due to anxiety about immigration.
“We’ve lost people, already,” East said. “They’re just not sure. It’s the uncertainty. Not vast numbers but enough to be ‘oh, this is an issue.’”
O’Hanraha-hanrahan’s trade deal report ends badly. The presenter in the studio savages his reporting and linguistic skills, quickly figuring out that O’Hanraha-hanrahan’s dispatch is nothing more that bluff and bluster.
Theresa May and her Brexit deal could yet face a similarly nasty fate. The right wing of her party still want to oust her and the prospects of her deal getting through the parliament look slim. CEOs will be hoping May has more substance to her deal than O’Hanraha-hanrahan.
