From now on until Britain has left the EU, CPA are going to post regular blogs for the comments we have seen in the press and elsewhere about Brexit, which is perhaps the most momentous event that will happen to the UK for a very long time and will have long-term implications for every citizen living in this country for good or ill. We aim to be balanced in our reports which will be divided into three categories;

  • Category 1 – Positive comments on Brexit
  • Category 2 – Negative comments on Brexit
  • Category 3 – Neutral comments on Brexit

We posted our first blog on 12th May 2017 (CPA Brexit blog on 12/5/2017)
We posted our second blog on 16th May 2017 (CPA Brexit blog on 16/5/2017)
We posted our third blog on 17th May 2017(CPA Brexit blog on 17/5/2017)
We posted our fourth blog on 22nd May 2017(CPA Brexit blog on 22/5/2017)
We posted our fifth blog on 26th May 2017(CPA Brexit blog on 26/5/2017)
Please find below our sixth Brexit blog which has been compiled today on 2nd June 2017:-

BREXIT; POSITIVE COMMENT: The Times, 16th May – In an article headed “Brexit bears concede and give sterling the chance to recover” by Philip Aldrick, Economics Editor, he wrote “Sterling is close to crossing back above $1.30 for the first time since September as investors cut their short positions amid hopes that a hard Brexit is less likely and ahead of an expected surge in inflation.”

Further excerpts read “Traders claim to have been reassured that Theresa May will not lead the country into a hard Brexit. Having fallen from $1.50 before the referendum to a low of $1.20 in January, sterling has been on a slow recovery path since March.”

The article finished by quoting Simon Derek, Head of Currency Strategy at BNY Melon, who said “Over the course of this year, concerns about a hard Brexit have to a degree dissipated. The investment community likes what it hears when it comes to Theresa May.”

BREXIT; POSITIVE COMMENT: The Telegraph, 19th May, in an article by Daniel Hannan headed “This is the Brexit I’ve been waiting for – The Tory manifesto shows the PM’s plan for taking Britain out of the EU will make us a global champion”, goes on to say that “as a member of European Parliament who joined in 1999, he had been a Eurosceptic in the nineties. However, was someone who did not want to join the Euro, but leaving the EU was not on anyone’s agenda in Westminster”. He points out now that Brexit has gone from being unthinkable to being inevitable with no intervening phrase. The article goes onto discuss why 52% of ‘Brexiters’ have every reason to be content but most of the 47% ‘Remainers’ want a business-like outcome which minimises uncertainty. He says that “talking to friends in this category he finds them reassured by the commitment to a comprehensive trade deal with the EU…”

He finalises the article by mentioning the manifesto and saying “The theme of open for business runs through almost every other section too. The pledges on infrastructure and university funding, for example, and the promise to simplify the tax system – they are all about making Britain a place where people want to invest. Nothing could be further from the nativist, protectionist Brexit that some feared. 

Here, in short, is a plan for a competitive Britain, interested and involved in the affairs of every continent, including Europe. I have waited a long time to vote for a manifesto like this.”

(Daniel Hannan is a Conservative MEP for South-East England.)

BREXIT; NEGATIVE COMMENT: Sky News, 26th May, said that consumer confidence is at its lowest level since the EU referendum.  Apparently the confidence dropped to 0.2 points from the previous months to 107.9, its lowest since July 2016. Nevertheless, it also pointed out that a score of over 100 indicates a positive outlook.

BREXIT; NEGATIVE COMMENT: The Morning Account, 30th May, under the heading “French officials in talks with banks about leaving London” stated that François Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of the French central bank, has said that officials in France are having serious talks with financial institutions looking to move away from London as Britain prepares to quit the EU. Mr Villeroy de Galhau also stepped up the campaign to claim the City’s lucrative euro-clearing business by declaring that it is impossible for it to remain in London. The financial sector contributed about £71bn to the Exchequer last year, according to PwC, and removal of euroclearing could cost the City 83,000 jobs, according to EY. (The Independent, Page: 55.  The Times, Page 37.)

BREXIT; NEUTRAL COMMENT: The Morning Account, 30th May, under the heading “CFO optimism rises” stated that Deloitte’s latest CFO Survey shows business optimism and risk appetite have continued to rise from post-referendum lows. The value of M&A deals between the rest of Europe and the UK has more than trebled, from $4.2bn in the first quarter of 2016 to $13.2bn in 2017. The findings come as the proportion of UK CFOs expecting M&A activity to decrease over the next three years as a result of Brexit fell from 40% immediately after the referendum to 11% in the first quarter of 2017. (Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Vision, Page: 16.)