Mark Casci: It is vital that business voices be heard over Brexit talks

Given that we are now virtually a year on from the referendum result and are only just getting around to beginning formal negotiations with the EU regarding our departure, it seems remarkable that this point need even be made but made it was.

In the 12 months since the electorate delivered a surprise that caught politicians and the mainstream media totally by surprised we have seen, in effect, a phony war. There has been bluster, there has been delay and, most recently, a completely unnecessary and costly general election which has poured fuel on the fires of uncertainty and fundamentally weakened our position when it comes to Brexit negotiations with the EU, which has been patiently waiting for months to get cracking on the issue.

One of the many sound bites on Brexit to emerge from Government in recent times is the pledge that it intends to fashion a deal “that delivers for everyone”.

However one thing that has been totally striking from Government in the run up to these talks is just how little it has been prepared to listen.

The only voices being heard on Brexit it seems are those from within the Tory Party, with the most vocal of Brexiteers seemingly ruling the roost until this month’s shock poll vote robbed Theresa May of the majority she had so complacently assumed she would bolster.

While the poll vote has not calmed anxieties over uncertainty from business it does now present an opportunity to reset the dial on how we go about exiting the European Union.

This newspaper and numerous other political and economic figures have called for a new bipartisan approach to be adopted.

This is entirely sensible. It can ensure a plurality of views are heard on the matter. More importantly it can help heal out internal wounds as a nation and help repair the damage we have done to our international reputation.

Imagine a scenario wherein David Davis was accompanied by Sir Kier Starmer on his trips to Brussels for the talks? Would that not send a powerful message of unity on behalf of Britain that we are coming together to do what is right for the nation?

Let’s expand that idea even further and have the most important voice of all heard at the table - that of business. A newly forged board of representatives from the likes of the CBI, the EEF, the IoD and a smattering of our top companies could come together to scrutinise the discussions, offer and advice and ensure that was is being discussed and agreed is good for British business and good for British people.

Chris Southworth, secretary general of the International Chamber of Commerce told me this week: “Businesses are the ones that create jobs. They are the ones that create investment. They are the ones that need labour. They need a positive trading environment. It should be in everyone’s interest to work with businesses to find the right solution for everybody.”

Mr Southworth is one of the most experienced practitioners of international commerce that we have. If we are not tapping into his knowledge and that of other world-leading business experts here in the United Kingdom then we are going into these crucial talks with yawning gaps in our arsenal.

It should also be incumbent on our business leaders to make sure their voices are heard. These talks are to important to be influenced or guided by a tiny cabal of narrow-minded politicians who have no genuine experience of international trade.

In short we should completely ignore the inane advice that Mr Gove gave one interviewer in the run up to the referendum and actually start to listen to the experts.