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British Prime Minister Theresa May prepares her speech in her hotel room for the Conservative Party conference at the International Convention Center, in Birmingham, UK, on October 2, 2018. Stefan Rousseau / Pool via REUTERS
LONDON (Reuters) – US Prime Minister Theresa May will meet about 120 corporate executives and major investors on Wednesday, fearing that Britain will leave the world's largest trading block without an agreement.
May and Chancellor Philip Hammond are due to meet officials to discuss Brexit and this week's annual budget, which included spending announcements and higher taxes for technology companies. They will both make statements and answer questions.
So far, the government has not specified where the meeting will be held or who will be present.
With five months to get an agreement before Britain leaves the European Union, business leaders demand certainty about the type of 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.
If Britain and the European Union do not reach a withdrawal agreement, there will be no formal transition period to mitigate the effects of Brexit.
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.
Earlier this week in the budget, the government announced the end of the long-term spending cuts in Britain with tax cuts for households and a new technology tax on multinational technology companies.
Report by Andrew MacAskill; Edited by Guy Faulconbridge
