City and CBI call for urgent work on Theresa May's Brexit plan

The City of London attacked Theresa May's vision of the UK's future relationship with the EU, with other companies saying the prime minister should provide more details on taxation, customs and immigration. , the policy chairman of the City of London Corporation, described the government's proposals on the white paper, which were abandoning a "mutual recognition" plan that would have seen the UK and the EU reflect their financial regulations respective, as "a real blow to the United Kingdom. She added that the EU's equivalence scheme, which allows foreign countries such as the United States to sell certain financial services across the EU, was "unsuitable" in its form. current.

The White Paper proposes to extend the current system of EU equivalence to new financial areas and strengthen its governance mechanisms.

Another lobby group, The CityUK, stated that it was "regrettable and frustrating" that recognition

The Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority gave their blessing to proposals before they are published, according to people familiar with the situation.

Private, senior financiers were more optimistic, with a banker describing the proposals as "pragmatic and achievable" with "even some elements that are useful".

Simon Morris, a financial services partner at CMS, the law firm, said: "This is the best starting position we could have had, under the circumstances, but it lacks key elements and there are large concessions. "

These do not include any application for equivalence The UK and the EU are starting to design an equivalence scheme, but the results will also be examined by the United States. any difference with its own equivalence arrangements.

Ms. May's proposals were met with little enthusiasm by other business groups, with the CBI claiming that there are still many gaps, particularly for services

"More details on European VAT, some service sectors and news," said Carolyn Fairbairn, Executive Director of the CBI Employers' Federation. "

The Institute of Directors raised concerns that were taken up by others, including the British Retail Consortium and the British Chambers of Commerce, on access to work after freedom of movement

The proposals proposed a unspecified arrangement to allow citizens of the United Kingdom and the EU to continue to visit countries and businesses without further clarification

. Stephen Marshall, Director General of IoD

Adam Marshall, head of the BCC, which represents 75,000 companies across the country, added that its members "were shouting for clarity on immigration" . 19659005] Exporters of goods, such as the aerospace sector and automakers, were largely satisfied with the plan, with Honda saying "delighted to find that the automotive sector needed a L & # 39; Pharmaceutical industry praised the badurance that the government was seeking to ensure that drug approvals, as well as safety procedures and batch release, do not have to be duplicated in the framework of a harmonized regulation. Technology executives, meanwhile, welcome the government's "advance" with its commitment to ensuring the free flow of data between the UK and the EU and preventing a skills shortage.

"It now seems that the new political stance is to make the task easy enough for talented workers to come from the EU to find a job," said Matthew of the Hey, co-founder of the EU. ; Inploi.

Caroline Binham, Peggy Hollinger, Aliya Ram, Michael Pooler, Sheherazade Daneshkhu, Gill Plimmer, David Sheppard and Sarah Neville