Sheffield Chamber reaction to EU Referendum result

24th June 2016

Sheffield Chamber reacted to the referendum decision this morning Jill Thomas, President and MD of Future Life Wealth Management said "In the wake of the electorate's historic decision to leave the European Union, the immediate priorities for UK business are market stability and political clarity.

"Some business people will be pleased with the result, and others resigned to it. Yet all companies will expect swift, decisive, and coordinated action from the government and the Bank of England to stabilise markets if trading conditions or the availability of capital change dramatically. "Firms across the UK want an immediate and unambiguous statement from the Prime Minister on next steps, along with a clear timeline for the UK's exit from the European Union. "Business will also want to see a detailed plan to support the economy during the coming transition period - as confidence, investment, hiring and growth would all be deeply affected by a prolonged period of uncertainty. If ever there were a time to ditch the straight-jacket of fiscal rules for investment in a better business infrastructure, this is it. "Businesses need action to maintain economic stability, a timeline for exit, and answers to their many practical, real-world questions about doing business during and after this historic transition. Richard Wright, Executive Director added "Britain needs businesses nationally and locally to get up to full speed quickly despite this time of great uncertainty. The health of the economy must be the number one priority not a political post-mortem that distracts everybody from the job in hand. The country has operated with a massive trade deficit for far too long and we are building enormous debts. It is recoverable but we have to operate in a different way and this needs significant changes to business support mechanisms amongst other things. Now is the time to ditch the old box ticking, process driven systems that eat money in layers of bureaucracy. International Trade and start up support needs to be commercially focused using people who have been there and done it, and aligned to the regional economic strategy. Exiting Europe and the Devolution program give us the opportunity to change this but do the Combined Authority have the vision to do things differently to the way they always have?