Business is biting back and needs a place at Brexit table

However, the one thing we have in common is our absolute belief in the importance of business – from small local enterprises to heavyweight Yorkshire FTSE 100 PLCs such as Morrisons and Persimmon.

Business has been cowed after the Brexit vote, scared to show its head.

We have been told by Theresa May that the 16 million people who voted to remain in the EU are “citizens of nowhere” whilst Jeremy Corbyn is happily planning to raise business taxes from 19 to 26 per cent.

Both notions are ridiculous and show a complete ignorance of business and the way it works as a force for good in the UK.

However now there is a sense of change – a feeling that business has had enough of being ignored and reviled.

In my 20 years as a business journalist I have never heard business forums such as the CBI, the IoD and the EEF, be so forthcoming and vocal.

Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), has called on the Government to change tack in its approach to the Brexit talks and give business a place at the negotiating table.

“With negotiations almost upon us, British business does not believe that we are where we need to be,” she said.

“The likelihood of a good deal for the UK is further away with every exchange across the Channel. That cannot be allowed to continue.”

The Institute of Directors (IoD) said the first poll of businesses since the General Election reveals a “dramatic drop” in confidence.

Company directors said the overall priority for the new Government must be reaching a new trade deal with the European Union.

Stephen Martin, director general of the IoD, said: “It is hard to overstate what a dramatic impact the current political uncertainty is having on business leaders, and the consequences could – if not addressed immediately – be disastrous for the UK economy.

“The needs of business and discussion of the economy were largely absent from the campaign, but this crash in confidence shows how urgently that must change in the new Government.”

The EEF, which represents 20,000 manufacturing firms, said access to the single market should be put firmly back on the agenda following the General Election result or work could be lost to other countries.

It said that unless a more pro-business stance is taken in Brexit negotiations, companies could be forced to switch business plans away from the UK.

Chief executive Terry Scuoler said: “The new Government’s priorities must radically re-focus Brexit negotiations around trade and close co-operation ensuring a smooth exit from the EU.

“There are numerous ways of establishing a new relationship with the EU and, given we’ve just wasted a year, the Government needs to move away from its previous rhetoric and start repairing relations with EU partners.

“This means putting access to the single market and a form of customs union at the heart of a revised strategy.”

Ms Fairbairn said growth and jobs depends on the Government keeping Britain an attractive place to do business and warned that, the less likely a deal becomes, the more investors will take their money elsewhere.

Last weekend the Sunday Times ran a story about Airbus planning to pull out of Britain unless we come up with a clear Brexit strategy.

Blackfriar has it on good assurance that Airbus is the first of many foreign based companies that will pull out of Britain unless we sort ourselves out.

Ruth Davidson, leader of the Tartan Tories (despite the fact she isn’t actually an MP), is speaking a lot more sense than both the Tory and Labour leaders.

We need to put business first. We need to put jobs, the economy and the health of the nation first and that means access to the single market.