24 January 2019

Bloomberg: No-deal Brexit risk recedes as calls grow to delay divorce

The risk of a no-deal Brexit appears to be receding after calls for a delay to the UK’s exit from the European Union won powerful backing in London and other EU capitals. The pound rose.

Senior figures in the French and German governments said they’d be open to extending the Brexit deadline as momentum built for a delay in the U.K. Parliament.

Yet the issue remains toxic for Theresa May. The U.K. prime minister is caught in the crossfire between pro-EU members of her Conservative Party who are seeking to force her to postpone Brexit, and staunch euroskeptics who are threatening to bring down her government if she does.

The pressure mounted on Thursday morning when Airbus SE said it could be forced to move future investments out of the U.K. if there’s no agreement.

“Please don’t listen to the Brexiteers’ madness which asserts that, because we have huge plants here, we will not move and we will always be here,” Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders said. “They are wrong.”

Looming Deadline

 

Time for reaching a decision is running out. If the U.K. can’t agree to a deal in the next nine weeks, the country will leave the EU on March 29 in a disorderly split that British authorities warn will risk a recession, and a hit to the pound of as much as 25 percent. [...]

Full article on Bloomberg

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