Theresa May voiced fears businesses would leave UK post-Brexit – politics live
Secret audio of Goldman Sachs talk before referendum shows May said there were clear economic arguments for remaining in the EU
9.30am BST
Here is what Paddy Ashdown makes about May’s comments:
Strange times! Our Remain Foreign Sec campaigned for Brexit to further his career & our Brexit PM supported Remain for the same reason..
9.24am BST
Here is a round-up of what the rest of the media is saying about the leaked Theresa May comments on Brexit.
The Telegraph’s political editor, Peter Dominiczak, writes that May “was seen as a ‘reluctant remainer’” during the run-up to the referendum and compares the comments at Goldman Sachs with those she made in a public speech. He says:
Ahead of the vote she made a speech which offered cautious backing to staying in the EU, but with the caveat that there are “problems” associated with membership and that the UK “could cope” outside the bloc.
She added at the time that the UK is “big enough and strong enough to be a success story in or out of the EU”.
While it is public knowledge that Mrs May backed the Remain campaign, the recording will come as an embarrassment.
Her remarks appear to go further than the cautious backing she gave to the Remain camp, led by David Cameron. During the referendum campaign, her lukewarm support for Remain led Mr Cameron’s communications chief Craig Oliver to wonder if she was secretly an “enemy agent” for the Brexit camp.
Although No 10 insists Mrs May’s Goldman Sachs remarks were entirely consistent with her public statements, they strike a different tone from her comments about Brexit since becoming Prime Minister.
At the Conservative party conference Mrs May said that she wanted to prioritise reducing immigration over being part of the single market.
The comments, revealed in the Guardian, are stronger than her more nuanced public position during the referendum campaign.
Although she was a Remain supporter, No 10 was worried about her lukewarm support for EU membership.
The audio, leaked by The Guardian newspaper, will heap further pressure on Mrs May who was lacklustre in her support for the Remain campaign and has enthusiastically embraced Brexit since the June 23 vote.
She made almost no public pronouncements of note during the referendum campaign, reportedly drawing the ire of David Cameron and his Project Fear camp, who questioned his once-time close ally’s loyalty.
The recordings reveal more about the prime minister’s personal beliefs over Brexit than her public offerings about the benefits of staying in the bloc, where she was known as a reluctant Remainer.
Guardian front page, Wednesday 26 October 2016 – Exclusive: leaked recording reveals what May really thinks about Brexit pic.twitter.com/S7cUFcPHPb
8.48am BST
Unsurprisingly, Theresa May is facing flak following the revelation that she warned about the economic consequences of a Brexit vote at a private meeting before the referendum.
My colleague Rowena Mason has written a story on the reaction to the leaked recording. It includes the following comments:
Before referendum PM says access to 500m strong trading bloc essential; now won’t make economy & jobs the priority! https://t.co/EaqRLxd59F
As if we needed it, this recording is cast-iron evidence of how Theresa May and other senior Tories have been saying one thing in private about the economic impact of Brexit and another in the comfort of Tory conference halls.
It’s plain that she recognises what a disaster it would be for Britain to lose access to the single market, so why doesn’t she be honest with the British people and say how she plans to retain it
PM’s private Brexit views https://t.co/Qoi6lE6yzS. She was right then -it underlines why Single Market membership should be her ambition now pic.twitter.com/HM55aMhBq3
As if we needed it, this recording is cast-iron evidence of how Theresa May and other senior Tories have been saying one thing in private about the economic impact of Brexit and another in the comfort of Tory conference halls.
It’s plain that she recognises what a disaster it would be for Britain to lose access to the single market, so why doesn’t she be honest with the British people and say how she plans to retain it.
More disappointing is that now she is supposedly in charge, she is blithely ignoring her own warnings and is prepared to inflict an act of monumental self-harm on the UK economy by pulling Britain out of the single market.
8.35am BST
Good morning, it’s Haroon Siddique here, standing in again for Andrew Sparrow.
Yesterday was all about Heathrow and while the fallout to that decision is likely to continue, the main story this morning is about a warning given by Theresa May at a private meeting prior to the EU referendum in which she warned that companies would leave the UK if the country voted for Brexit.
I think the economic arguments are clear. I think being part of a 500-million trading bloc is significant for us. I think, as I was saying to you a little earlier, that one of the issues is that a lot of people will invest here in the UK because it is the UK in Europe.
If we were not in Europe, I think there would be firms and companies who would be looking to say, do they need to develop a mainland Europe presence rather than a UK presence? So I think there are definite benefits for us in economic terms.
Source: Guardian Transport
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