CBI chief: Europe is rarely the top concern for businesses

Carolyn Fairbairn, who became director general of the CBI last year, told CNBC: “It is not the only issue by any means facing the British economy.

“Indeed one of things that I think is quite interesting for me is that as I’ve gone around talking to businesses, you know I got my rail card out two months ago when I joined the CBI and I went around the country talking to businesses and actually one of my questions, which is a very open ended one is, ‘what matters most to you at the moment’ and it’s interesting but Europe is very rarely the number one issue.

“Usually it’s around skills and skill shortages. It’s about infrastructure in the local region.

“When I was up in Sheffield the real issue was having a trans-Pennine rail link to Manchester and being able to create a single population and, so this is an agenda that the gGovernment is gripping really effectively and the fact that we do now have a national infrastructure commission, there is a focus on productivity, the skill agenda is at the forefront of a lot of people’s mind.”

She made the comments in response to a question about whether she thoght the Prime Minister should stand down if the EU referendum returns a vote for Britain to leave the union.

Ms Fairbairn added: “You know these are things that I think the PM could carry on with. So Europe isn’t everything, so it would it would be a decision for him, but there would be very many other valuable areas of leadership that he is bringing into the economy at the moment.”