‘Get on with Brexit!’ 200 company bosses deliver letter to Theresa May saying it’s ‘vital’ to start EU divorce by end of March and ‘preferably sooner’
Company bosses will deliver a letter to Downing Street today urging Theresa May to ‘get on with leaving the EU’.
They tell the Prime Minister it is ‘vital’ she sticks to her pledge of triggering Article 50 – the formal mechanism for divorcing from the EU – by the end of March but ‘preferably sooner’.
The Government must stick to the timetable to ‘create certainty and confidence’ for business in the UK. ‘Trade and jobs will follow,’ the 200 business leaders write in the letter.
It was organised by rival groups Leave Means Leave and Change Britain and is signed by a range of company bosses, including City leaders Dr Peter Cruddas, Sir Michael Hintze, Jim Mellon and Michael Spencer and David Cameron’s former enterprise advisor and ex-trade secretary Lord Young of Graffham.
JD Wetherspoon founder Tim Martin, theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh and the leading entrepreneur Luke Johnson are also signatories.
They tell Mrs May in the letter they are ‘confident that Britain can prosper outside the EU.
‘Some of us voted Leave, some Remain. Others represent international businesses with a stake in Britain’s success.
‘What we share is a respect for the decision made by a clear majority of the British people to leave the EU, and a belief that it is now vital that Article 50 is triggered within the Government’s timeframe – no later than 31st March 2017, but preferably sooner – so that the country can get on with leaving the EU, and businesses and investors can plan accordingly.
‘Create certainty and confidence, trade and jobs will follow.’
But their letter will arrive in Downing Street as the Government’s lawyers fight to stop its timetable for Brexit being derailed by Remain supporters in the Supreme Court.
The Government’s appeal against the High Court’s decision last month that MPs must be consulted before Mrs May triggers Article 50 started this morning.
Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC will warn judges not to defy the ‘will of the electorate’ or ‘stray into areas of political judgment’ as the case gets underway today.
Remain figurehead Gina Miller, who defeated the Government in the High Court last month, arrived at the Supreme Court in Westminster this morning after saying Mr Write and other critics are wrong to criticise them or point out their views on the EU.
She told the Guardian last night: ‘I think it is such a dangerous road to be going down to be attacking the judges and their integrity and their independence. They are being vilified and it is totally disgraceful.’
The case is expected to run for four days this week but a decision is not expected until early next year.
If the 11 judges decide not to overturn the High Court’s decision the Government will have to win a vote in Parliament before triggering Article 50.
It threatens delaying the Brexit process as MPs and peers have signalled they will attempt to amend or even veto the move to quit the EU despite the clear result in June’s referendum.
December 5th, 2016: Daily Mail