Brexit round-up: local reaction
Business owners and leaders have been reflecting over the weekend after the EU Referendum result last Friday. We asked a selection from the East Midlands community about what the outcome will mean to them.
Richard Dorf, CEO at PXtech: “My view is that this is not the result that we and most people we do business with would have wanted.
“I was speaking to our Japanese business partner who saw a likely impact on global markets from our decision including negative impacts for the Chinese and Japanese economies. A reminder of how closely we are linked to the world economy and how closely linked it is to us. Independence doesn’t seem to be the word defining our future, more a different sort of dependency, an undefined dependency.
“We will be free to negotiate our future in many ways, but that is all, free to negotiate. Negotiation is a product of the discussion of the needs of two or more parties all of whom will be operating through self-interest. So we must prepare hard to negotiate and the best way to do that is to understand the needs of those we are to negotiate with as well as our own needs. When we understand their self-interest, then we will be well positioned to help them understand that trading with the UK is key to them. Assuming because we are a “big” economy and therefore they will come to us on our terms will be a mistake. The UK has a history of diplomacy, this will now be put to the test.”
Rob Clifford
SDL Group commercial director Rob Clifford said: “Increased regulation is often very unwelcome and, in my view, some of the red-tape the industry has been bound-up in has often disregarded the maturity and complexity of the UK However, SDL Group was behind a remain vote as it was a clear route to offer maximum and continued stability for both the housing market and the British consumer.
“Our business is robust and, whilst we doubt there will be any direct detriment to the operations of SDL Group, we’re inevitably anxious about the potential macro effect on both the housing and financial services sectors.
“These are uncertain times for all of us, but it’s important to approach the situation we find ourselves in with a level head. Risks will undoubtedly come from such uncertainty, but that is the very nature of the market we’re in. It’s very much business as usual.”
Annette Wood
Employment and dispute resolution specialist and Partner at Andrew & Co Solicitors Annette Wood said: “I am not sure the result was what businesses expected or wanted but in terms of employment legislation I do not see any immediate impact. UK legislation is in place to implement EU directives so further UK legislation would be required to make changes.
“Some longer terms changes may impact on the maximum working week under The Working Time Regulations, a cap on compensation in discrimination cases and possibly a revision of the Agency Worker Regulations. One area that will not be affected is family-friendly policies as UK provisions already exceed EU rights.
“However, I think there will be more immediate issues of concern and one of those, as stated by Simon Walker, Director General of the Institute of Directors, in his response to the outcome of the EU referendum, is making sure that there are measures in place to ensure that EU citizens in the UK can remain, the concern being that a lot of businesses will be worried about the risk of losing key valued staff.”
Mark Richardson
Mark Richardson, partner at BB&J, said: “Uncertainty is the issue. Without a stable environment to operate in, speculators, developers and investors will all now “sit tight” to wait and see what happens.
“Inevitably this will lead to a lack of properties supplied to the market, a knock on reduction in the number of transactions, and a resultant drop in business levels for banks, surveyors and solicitors.”
