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LONDON (Reuters) – US Premier Theresa May said she was reassured when she met with business leaders on Wednesday, the meeting said.
British Prime Minister Theresa May and Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond leave 10 Downing Street in London, October 31, 2018. REUTERS / Henry Nicholls
May and Chancellor Philip Hammond met with about 150 leaders to discuss Britain's departure from the world's largest trading bloc and this week's annual budget, which included spending announcements and higher taxes for technology companies .
Serco leaders Rupert Soames said May and Hammond were "robust and reassuring" at the May meeting, which sought to ease business concerns over the EU's imminent departure.
"(It was useful) to concretely recognize that uncertainty is slowing investments," he told Reuters.
With five months to reach an agreement before Britain leaves the European Union, business leaders demand certainty as to the business conditions that divorce will impose. They especially want to be assured that there will be a transition period of 21 months after Britain's departure from the bloc.
Participants at the London Guildhall meeting said the atmosphere was good.
"They had the impression that they had found their mojo," Nigel Wilson, CEO of Legal & General, told BBC News after the meeting.
"They were both convinced that the negotiations on Brexit would go well, so we will have a good solution, it will run reasonably smoothly in Parliament."
If Britain and the EU fail to reach a withdrawal agreement, there will be no formal transition period to mitigate the effects of Brexit.
Earlier on Wednesday, Labor Finance Finance Spokesperson John McDonnell also briefed the companies on the budget and said the attendees quickly focused on Brexit during the discussion.
"We are as worried as the uncertainty and the lack of assurance from the government as to the conclusion of an agreement," McDonnell told reporters after the meeting.
Brexit negotiations are currently stalled due to a disagreement over a retrenchment plan aimed at avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland, formerly the focal point of sectarian tensions, if a relationship future commercial is not in place in time.
The latest meeting with business leaders follows a conference call by the Prime Minister with a group of similarly sized business leaders earlier this month.
May tries to prove her business skills. She told the Conservative Party conference that she would support business after former Foreign Minister and eminent Brexite expert Boris Johnson would have used a different four-letter word to express his disdain for Brexit's corporate actions. .
"She explained that the government would work to build a Britain conducive to trade," May's office said in a statement issued at the end of the meeting.
Report By Andrew MacAskill, William James, Alistair Smout and Elisabeth O 'Leary; Edited by Guy Faulconbridge, Richard Balmforth
