Every second business has cut its investment in the UK as the country’s departure from the bloc, scheduled in less than a year, approaches. According to Baker & McKenzie, especially German companies think that Brexit is bad for business.
The majority of 800 executives, involved in the survey, also claimed that they had not been consulted and their position had not been taken into an account by EU negotiators, who have been striving to forge the post-Brexit trade deal. Ninety-six percent of the respondents have slammed attempts to “punish” the UK for leaving the union rather than working out preferable terms for post-Brexit trade, while around 75 percent of them insisted on concessions from Brussels for the sake of a preferable business environment.
Over half of the businesspeople also advocated for a free trade agreement; the support of a customs union has not exceeded 45 percent of the poll’s participants.
The survey involved 800 top managers of companies with annual sales starting from $330 million, based in France, Germany, Sweden, Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands.
British trade secretary Liam Fox recently said that the UK has remained Europe's number one destination for international investment, despite a slowdown in GDP growth, and a simultaneous acceleration of economic expansion on the European continent. According to him, investors are still confident in the UK due to the structural strength of Albion's economy, and its brighter economic prospects.
READ MORE: UK Remains Europe's Top Investment Destination Despite Brexit Fears
Meanwhile, thousands of people took part in an anti-Brexit rally in London this weekend, exactly two years after the historic Brexit vote. The protests were organized by the "People's Vote" campaign, which has been calling for a new referendum on the divorce deal.
On June 20, Prime Minister Theresa May won a vital vote in Parliament, defeating Tory rebels that could have potentially acquired the power to stop Britain from leaving the EU without a deal. The PM promised that more details of UK-EU post-Brexit links would come soon.
Britain's departure from the European Union is scheduled for March 29, 2019. A transition period, which will see the UK remain in the single market and customs union, is to last until the end of 2020.