The Prime Minister spoke with over 130 business leaders today on
the progress in Brexit negotiations, following the European
Council this week.
First, she recognised the importance of these discussions for
businesses, their supply chains and clients. She outlined that
the Government’s proposed future relationship with the EU would
preserve the UK’s and EU’s frictionless access to each other’s
markets for goods, protecting jobs and livelihoods on both sides.
She set out the significant progress that has been made on the
Withdrawal Agreement and on our future relationship with the EU.
She acknowledged that there were a few significant issues that
were still outstanding, but said that the very real sense she had
from leaders around the table at the Council was that they wanted
to reach a deal as soon as possible this autumn.
Second, the Prime Minister spoke about the Northern Irish
backstop, which is intended to guarantee that - in the unlikely
event that there is a delay in bringing into effect our future
relationship by the end of the implementation period at the end
of December 2020 - there is no return to a hard border between
Northern Ireland and Ireland. If required, this would therefore
only be necessary for a temporary period to act as a bridge to
the future relationship.
The Prime Minister explained that the UK could not accept the
EU’s proposal which included an arrangement in which Northern
Ireland could be kept in a separate customs territory to the rest
of the UK. She advised that our proposal included a UK-wide joint
customs territory with the EU for the duration of the backstop,
which would protect the integrity of the UK and deliver on the
commitment to avoid a hard border with Ireland. She emphasised
that both sides wanted to have our future relationship in place
by the end of December 2020 so that the backstop never needed to
be used, but that the negotiating teams would work intensively on
this to find a way forward.
Finally, she urged businesses not to lose sight of the prize –
that of a smooth trading relationship with the EU alongside the
ability to seek new opportunities and open up new markets with
trading partners around the world.
The Prime Minister took questions from businesses and
representative bodies (Centrica, EY, Diageo, Enterprise Nation,
RBS, Federation of Small Businesses, ITV, Aston Martin, Barratt
Developments and Tesco) on topics such as the importance of
frictionless trade, the implementation period and opportunities
for the future.
A number of businesses thanked the Prime Minister for the
opportunity to speak with her directly on the Brexit
negotiations.
