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Brexit round-up – 09/11/18

Welcome to this, our latest Brexit round-up. Each week we provide a succinct round-up of the latest news surrounding the Brexit process, so you can keep abreast of the issues which are likely to affect your organisation.

Cabinet aims for deal by end of November

On 6 November 2018 senior ministers attended a cabinet meeting to discuss the mechanism for governing the Irish backstop. It is understood that a final deal was not presented to the cabinet but that ministers agreed they want to reach a deal by the end of this month.  Associated with the cabinet  meeting is a detailed suggested timetable of how the Government should try to ‘sell a deal’ to MPs and the public. It includes speeches from Theresa May and support from business figures and foreign leaders. In particular, the narrative suggests both the Withdrawal Agreement and Future Framework will be presented to Parliament on 19 November.

For more information, please click here and here.

Prime Minister forms five business councils

Theresa May has formed five new business councils to advise on how to create the best business conditions in the UK after Brexit. Each council will meet three times a year, twice with Mrs May and once with a senior cabinet minister, to provide high-level advice and policy recommendations on the critical issues affecting businesses. Each council will be co-chaired by two business leaders with ten members representing core sectors of the UK economy and a representative from the UK’s key business groups. Such representatives include executives from Tesco, ITV, the Confederation of British Industry, BAE Systems and GlaxoSmithKline.

For more information, please click here.

Institute of Directors (IoD) publishes ‘Preparing your business for Brexit – Part 3’

The IoD has published the final section of its third-part series of advising UK SMEs on how best to prepare their organisations for the post-Brexit landscape. The IoD outlines its plan of five points that need to be considered by SMEs that trade internationally: (1) set budget rates on the currency crosses that affect your business that guarantee that currency will not impinge on your profitability; (2) ensure certainty of terms with suppliers and customers; (3) implement back-up plans with European and global conveyors so supply chains remain flexible; (4) regulatory assurance; and (5) consider business funding and access to lending operations.

For more information, please click here.

Business Leaders call for a second Brexit vote

More than 70 business leaders have signed a letter to the Sunday Times advocating a second vote on Brexit. Among the senior executives to have publicly supported the call for a second vote are James Daunt, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Waterstones and Justin King, former CEO of Sainsbury’s. The letter does not specifically mention a second referendum but discusses the “ultimate choice” being given back to the electorate and concludes “we are bit facing either a blindfold or a destructive hard Brexit.” Theresa May has responded to the letter by making clear that asking the public to vote again would be a “betrayal of the public’s trust.”

For more information, please click here.

If you have any questions about any of the issues which are raised, or would like to discuss your own organisation’s options in the lead-up to Brexit, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.

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