Jeremy Browne was a former Liberal MP and minister of state in the coalition government of 2010-15 but was appointed as a special representative of the City of London Corporation to provide a voice for the financial services sector in the capital (HERE). He has apparently written a memo to 350 executives at financial firms in The City following meetings in Brussels last week. The memo has been leaked to The Telegraph (HERE).
The memo says, according to The Telegraph, "Brussels shows no interest in finding “long-term solutions” to Brexit and could ignore the interests of European Union business". There is just a “one per cent” chance of the EU agreeing to start discussing a trade deal in October as the UK wants, according to a source quoted in the note. There is also no appetite for creating a “bespoke” transition deal that will allow Britain to retain the benefits of EU membership for years after formally leaving, it is warned."
It is hard to imagine anyone in The City being surprised at this news but reaction in the comments section of the Telegraph article is predictable. The UK "should walk away asap leaving a draft free trade agreement on the table and start acting unilaterally" and Mr Browne, "has been fed a lot of propaganda knowing he would suck it up and disperse it throughout the city". Only arch Brexiteers could be surprised to learn the EU shows no sign of finding a long-term solution to the problem we created or that there is no appetite to start work on a massive and time consuming bespoke transition deal to avoid damaging our economy.
Another comment suggests we should boycott EU products! This would kill the UK car industry overnight and cause riots as food supplies ran out. I think we are going to find out who needs who more in the next few months. For me it's already clear that we need the EU more - otherwise we wouldn't be whingeing about blackmail.
