BT CEO Warns 'Hard Brexit' Would Hurt U.K. Economy
October 27 2016 - 3:48AM
Dow Jones News
By Simon Zekaria
LONDON--BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN) Chief Executive Gavin Patterson
on Thursday said uncertainty resulting from Britain's vote to leave
the European Union will jeopardize investment across the country's
telecommunications and media industry, and warned that a "hard
Brexit" would worsen the U.K. economy.
"There is a high degree of uncertainty. We don't know what the
future lies in terms of our relationship with Europe, and that over
time is going to put investment at risk across the whole of the
market," said Mr. Patterson. "The harder the Brexit the more
damaging it is going to be for the U.K. economy."
At the start of October, Prime Minister Theresa May said she
wanted to win British companies the "maximum freedom" to operate in
the EU's tariff-free single market, but not if it meant
relinquishing the right to curb immigration to the U.K. Analysts
interpreted her comments as signaling a greater possibility of a
"hard Brexit" for the U.K, based on the view that controlling
immigration was a higher priority than maintaining full access to
the country's largest trading partner.
Still, last week, Mrs. May, while holding her position on
immigration, signaled a firmer determination for U.K. businesses to
have the broadest possible access to the single market.
Mr. Patterson said BT prioritizes unfettered trading access in
Europe.
"What we really want is as much access to those 500 million
customers in the single market as we possibly can," he said.
Write to Simon Zekaria at simon.zekaria@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 27, 2016 04:33 ET (08:33 GMT)
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