Theresa May has swapped a “strong and stable” government for “certainty and understanding” in her relationship with the business community.
Ten months after she abolished her predecessor David Cameron’s business council, the prime minister reconvened a new iteration of the group in an attempt to mend fences with business leaders who had begun to write her off as anti-business.
In a suitably delphic tweet about the meeting Philip Hammond told social media: “Insightful discussions with business leaders at PM’s new council — we want to give businesses certainty as we go through Brexit negotiations.”
Business leaders, represented by Sir Roger Carr of BAE Systems, Dave Lewis of Tesco, Paul Manduca from the Prudential, John Pettigrew from the National Grid, Kathryn Parsons of Decoded, Ralf Speth of Jaguar Land Rover and Luke Johnson of Risk Capital Partners, who have long been aware that what they want out of Brexit will not or cannot be delivered by Mrs May, heard that she wanted to give “certainty and understanding of our position”.
Mrs May’s spokesman said afterwards: “This is what the start of an intensive communication with business is going to look like. She intends to try to give them that certainty through talking to them privately and by being clear on what our positions are.”
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The prime minister has committed to chairing regular sessions with business leaders.
Francis Martin, president of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “The increased tempo of engagement with business in recent weeks is welcome. High-level discussions with the prime minister and her cabinet must continue, but we also need to see sustained and structured discussion with business on the dozens of practical, real-world questions that firms face as a consequence of Brexit.”
