One of the most surprising features of Brexit has been the absence of business comment. Seeking to rival Labour in their policy indifference to the whole Brexit issue, business has taken a back seat throughout much of the Brexit debate despite the significance of the issue to it. Now the FT reports:
Some senior financiers are advocating a “people's vote” on Theresa May's Brexit deal, exposing a sharp split with much of the City of London, which last week backed the prime minister's blueprint for Britain's relationship with the EU.
Half a dozen leading figures told the FT City Network, a panel of more than 50 representatives from finance, business and policymaking, that Brexit had essentially been mis-sold to the British public. A second vote was crucial if Mrs May's deal failed to secure parliamentary backing next month, they said.
Too little, too late, business seems to have noticed that maybe it should have had something to say and that the Tory view of their economic interests is not one they should rely on. The lack of strategic nous is what is really noticeable. I still, for obviously mistaken reason, think these people should possess it. Silly me.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
There are links to this blog's glossary in the above post that explain technical terms used in it. Follow them for more explanations.
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Buy me a coffee!
Hi Richard,
I agree. It was odd yesterday to see the CBI falling in behind Theresa’s deal having swallowed whole the “it’s my deal or no deal” nonsense.
Its baffled me – I can understand the more rapacious end of the City. Also companies run by right wing ideologues like JC Bamford, Dyson or Weatherspoon. But for a swathe of large and medium businesses this is going to cost them a lot of money and be extremely disruptive – it already is. Smaller business maybe less so – they are more inclined to complain about regulation (including environmental and employment regs) – the bigger ones tend to comply as they are more publicly exposed (and yes I know about the exceptions and the tax dodging). However many of them rely on B2B trading and don’t realise that as the larger firms they trade with cut back, they too will be hurt. The cafes around Nissan and Airbus…
Perhaps what it demonstrates is that most businesses try and stay out of politics and just deal with the world as they find it. I know that doesn’t fit with a more left wing perspective that they are all part of a corporatist conspiracy, but they have to live with politicians of all stripes so tend not to want to take sides.
To my way of thinking the interesting thing about the Brexit debacle is that it divides all social classes in Britain.
Both sides accuse the other faction of being supported by the ‘Establishment view’.
From the unwaged, through poverty-paid workers, the middle classes, earnest businessmen, the corporate fat cats to the House of Lords there is no consensus on the right solution to this can of very fat, very wiggly, worms. We may discover they are not worms at all but baby vipers and growing fast.
Thus far Theresa May seems to be the only person in the whole of the UK whose Chobbam-plated pants are going to render her safe from being bitten on the bum by all this. Fortunately she seems to have no sense of humour or she would be helpless with laughter at the irony of her situation.
Andy
The way the term ‘elites’ has been thrown around has somewhat devalued it. They don’t come much more elite than the ERG, the think tanks and the rest of the gang behind Brexit. Hilarious that they claim to be representing the poor and oppressed. Or that a John Harris might be dismissed as being too ‘middle class’. Meanwhile we are told we have an ‘Islington elite’ running the Left. Not to mention an Edinburgh elite North of the Border!
I think the analyses that have looked at underlying social values are much more insightful – the point that views on capital punishment were a very good indicator of views on Brexit. It wasn’t just the left behind of say West Cumbria and Lincolnshire (2 places I can speak of a bit) who were voting Brexit- I can have some empathy with them. It was wealthy landed gentry as well. Remember the moats and duck houses?? I hear views expressed that are straight out out of the 1950’s. Happily reading their Mails and Telegraphs and believing every word. Dreaming of days of Empire. There are some telling points in Alston’s UN report on different attitudes to poverty and welfare around the country
Thats a much tougher nut to crack – that some areas of the country might have quite deep rooted and much less ‘progressive’ (which means a whole bunch of stuff) views than others. Susceptible to siren voices from the far right.
His comments on geography were especially welcome
They reveal quite marked and different national perceptions
It’s interesting to contrast this with the coverage given to business comments during the Scottish independence referendum.
Is there really a lack of comments from businesses regarding Brexit or is it the case that the media choose not to cover them with the same degree of prominence as they were given during the Scottish independence referendum? Or both?
Two referendums, two different types of coverage by the mainstream media, two different attitudes from businesses. Control the message, control the people.