Exactly ten years since Britain voted to leave the European Union, the Confederation of British Industry has made it clear that the British business community does not support re-joining the bloc.
| PULSE POINTS |
❓ WHAT HAPPENED: The Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the biggest business lobby group in the United Kingdom and a major supporter of the campaign against Brexit in 2016, has confirmed its members’ opposition to another referendum on British membership of the European Union (EU). 📺 DETAIL: Rain Newton-Smith, Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), stated that British businesses do not support reversing Brexit or re-joining the European Union. “Businesses aren’t looking to relitigate the referendum,” the CBI’s Director-General said on Tuesday. While Newton-Smith claimed that Brexit had increased business costs in some areas, the Director-General acknowledged that recent trade agreements with non-EU countries, such as the Gulf states, have altered the corporate landscape. Notably, EU member states are now allowed to negotiate trade deals independently. The Director-General also noted that while British businesses previously supported membership of the Customs Union, the EU’s trading area which eliminates all tariffs and quotas between member states, this is no longer the case. “Five years ago, businesses would have supported joining the Customs Union. But the reality is the world has changed. So, no, CBI members aren’t asking to join the customs union,” said Newton-Smith. 💬 KEY QUOTE: “None of the business leaders I speak to want to reopen that debate.” – Rain Newton-Smith, CBI Director-General. 🎯 IMPACT: Newton-Smith’s comments underscore a divide between the business community and political figures advocating for deeper EU engagement, including the likely next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and newly elected Labor Member of Parliament (MP), Andy Burnham. Newston-Smith’s comments are significant as they directly refute claims suggesting that British businesses want to rejoin the 27-country bloc. 📺 FLASHBACK: Earlier this month, polling revealed that a clear majority of British people are opposed to economic integration with the EU if it means surrendering British control over British laws, even if doing so would benefit Britain’s economy. Only 27 percent of Britons support re-joining the Single Market—a free trade and shared regulatory zone, including “free movement” of migrant workers between members of the bloc—if it means compromising Britain’s sovereignty. Reflecting on the vote to leave the EU ten years on, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage accused the British political establishment of holding Leave voters in contempt and diluting the result. |
Image via Scottish Government.
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