British businesses don't back reversing Brexit or rejoining EU, admits CBI chief

British businesses don't back reversing Brexit or rejoining the EU, the leader of the CBI has admitted.

The director-general, Rain Newton-Smith, revealed that the business community did not want to go back 10 years from the referendum.

She said: "The evidence is compelling and indisputable that Brexit has created costs for business.

"But businesses aren’t looking to relitigate the referendum. None of the business leaders I speak to want to reopen that debate."

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Her intervention creates a clear divide between the corporate world and politicians on the left who are pushing for deeper engagement with Brussels.

Andy Burnham, widely seen as the frontrunner to replace Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader, has signalled his intention to pursue EU membership at some point in the future.

Yesterday, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey urged Mr Burnham to pursue much closer ties with Europe should he reach Downing Street, specifically calling for Britain to rejoin both the single market and a customs union.

Earlier today Mr Davey told GB News Brexit has "damaged our country", adding: "You've got to change that relationship with Europe, and now it's plain as a pikestaff now, and I think most people can see that."

The outgoing Prime Minister has maintained strict boundaries against such moves, excluding customs union membership, single market participation and free movement of people from his EU reset negotiations.

Ms Newton-Smith said that the corporate landscape has fundamentally shifted since Britain secured trade agreements with nations including India and the oil-rich Gulf states.

She said: "Five years ago, businesses would have supported joining the customs union. But the reality is the world has changed. So, no, CBI members aren't asking to join the customs union."

The government's EU reset deal is projected to increase UK GDP by a mere 0.3 per cent over 15 years, according to official estimates.

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This represents only a fraction of the potential eight per cent reduction in GDP that Chancellor Rachel Reeves warned last March could result from Brexit.

A summit scheduled for July 11 to finalise the arrangement has been delayed following Mr Starmer's resignation yesterday.

The CBI chief raised concerns about Britain being excluded from European supply chains as Brussels adopts increasingly protectionist measures such as the Industrial Accelerator Act.

Ms Newton-Smith warned: "With the UK increasingly caught in the middle of American and Chinese industrial firepower, this is the very definition of a 'lose-lose' outcome. We can't let politics get in the way of our mutual competitiveness."

Lord Elliott, the former chief executive of Vote Leave, has told GB News that Eurosceptics had grown complacent following the UK's departure from the EU, while Remainers had evolved into Rejoiners.

He said: "I think we need to be more confident in making the case for Britain to stay outside the EU.

"Once we left the EU in January 2020, Brexit was finally done, but people who were on the Remain side quickly became rejoiners and continued to make that case.

“Brexiteers need to, in a sense, get back on the playing field and continue to be proud of how they voted and proud of where the country is going by making the case that we need to make the most of Brexit powers and making the case that it will be disastrous to rejoin."

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