Thought I'd start a new thread as this is going to be a major talking point this year...have not made up my mind yet...(unlike bucksfizz)....but thinking of voting for an exit as Europe is not doing Britain any good at all it seems....

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-banks/business-survey-says-brexit-biggest-threat-to-uk-financial-centre-idUKKBN1FI003

Business survey says Brexit biggest threat to UK financial centre
Huw Jones
3 MIN READ

LONDON (Reuters) - Uncertainty over Britain’s future trading relations with the European Union after Brexit is the most serious threat to London as the world’s top financial centre, a business survey showed on Monday.

The City of London financial district is seen during early morning mist from Greenwich Park in London, Britain, January 22, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
The quarterly survey from business lobby CBI and consultants PwC said optimism in the financial services sector fell for the third consecutive quarter in the three months to December, marking two years of flat or falling sentiment, though transactions remained stable overall.

Firms want as much clarity as possible on what Britain wants in future trade relations, the survey found.

“To restore some confidence, financial services firms absolutely must – no ifs, no buts – get as much certainty as possible on what the UK is aiming for in the Brexit negotiations, the opportunities of success and the consequences of failure,” CBI Chief Economist Rain Newton-Smith said in a statement.

The EU is due on Monday to approve criteria for negotiating a transition period that would bridge Brexit in March 2019 and the start of new trading terms.

Andrew Kail, head of financial services at PwC said a transition period is likely, but the financial sector must get ready to operate outside the bloc

“The industry will need to take positive action if it is to preserve its trading status and business model,” Kail said.

Paris, Frankfurt Dublin and Luxembourg are vying to attract financial services from London that need continued access to EU customers after Brexit.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told Reuters on Friday that Paris could overtake London as Europe’s most important financial centre in a matter of years.

Financial company profits continued to improve in the final three months of last year, with a similar trend expected in the current quarter, the survey found. Headcount is expected to remain stable.

Separately the City of London Corporation, the municipal authority for the capital’s “Square Mile” financial district, said nearly one in every five workers there in 2016 came from a European country, the highest on record.

Eighteen percent of the City’s workforce came from the European Economic Area, up from 8 percent a decade earlier. UK workers accounted for 59 percent of staff, the rest came from outside Europe.

“This data crystalizes the importance of European workers to the UK’s biggest financial centre, and the need for a clear post-Brexit immigration policy,” City of London policy chief Catherine McGuinness said.

The CBI/PwC said that 54 percent of the 92 firms they surveyed said they want to make it easier to attract staff to Britain’s financial technology or fintech sector.

Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Manuel,

Are you drawing attention to your own anxieties or family mores?

however you wish to interpret .... but i care not
typically, you refuse to address directly the issue raised

This con government is like a leaking bucket.

Isn't it time for them to depart?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42867668

Leaked government Brexit paper suggests UK economic hit
1 hour ago
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The UK economy will grow more slowly outside the European Union, no matter what deal is struck with Brussels, a leaked government document suggests.

BuzzFeed News reports the Whitehall analysis found growth over the next 15 years could be up to 8% lower than if the UK stayed in the EU.

The document is said to look at the likely impact of different scenarios.

Government sources say the UK will not be worse off, and its preferred bespoke trade deal option was not analysed.

Conservative Brexiteers said previous predictions had been wrong and that this one had been leaked by someone wanting the "softest possible" Brexit.

Labour called for the assessment to be published and debated in Parliament.

Laura Kuenssberg: May's Brexit backdrop
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According to Buzzfeed, the leaked document, titled EU Exit Analysis - Cross Whitehall Briefing and drawn up for the Department for Exiting the EU, suggests almost every part of the economy would suffer.

But Conservative MP and leave campaigner Iain Duncan Smith told the Today programme the paper should be taken "with a pinch of salt" as almost every single forecast on Brexit has been wrong.

"It's an incomplete report... deliberately leaked because it gives a bad view," he said.

The paper is likely to sharpen the debate in cabinet as the least bad option appears to be to remain close to the EU - the "Philip Hammond option", said the BBC's assistant political editor, Norman Smith.

Mrs May given the PM job just to stop Boris. The consideration of how she would be as a PM hardly came into it.

Wished Norman Smith.

Dear Laura Kuenssberg, the queen of manipulating reports to suit her ends - Corbyn, Trump, Juncker etc. Not political, just self-serving.

Boris had already dropped out of the PM contest before it started.

Laura Kuenssberg is easily the best political journalist which is why she was awarded that.

I'm wondering if Rees-Mogg ought to be given the Chancellor's job?

He's able enough and he's also 'loyal enough' too.

Any thoughts?

Well if we are going to be worse off whatever happens then let's just leave tomorrow and keep all our money.

Feck em , let's go for it now.

The leaving now option is very attractive. However, it would pretty much guarantee our loss of the financial clout if the City. The EU would become even more intransigent than now.

Dil,

And become as reliable a trading partner to others as we were to the EU.

Brilliant!

Just watch the Financial Services race to Europe.

fred- out of curiosity, how many (ex) homeless are you now putting up in your house? .... you must have at least one spare bedroom and no doubt a sofa and some floor space to accommodate sleeping bags et al

and no of course i have no interest in being such a good samaritan, though you always tell us we should be
....... so time for you to stand up and tell and show all that you do indeed practice what you preach

Guess who?

Manuel.

Perhaps it would better for you to reflect on your own ancestry than my current practices.

Fred , when will you get it that the EU operates the most protectionist policies of any world trading bloc.

It's the EU who are crapping on the rest of the world and are the worlds nasty neighbours.

i just knew that fred would not answer the question ...... nothing changes and of course he does not practice what he preaches

fwiw, jewish refugess at the turn of the 20th century, when necessary, were often looked after by their own community .... assuredly there was no comfort blanket nor safety net of the welfare system

Manuel,

Take your blinkers off and look back again.

You thought of another bloc who are more anti world trade yet Fred or do you want a bit more time to think about it.

And for those who think our financial sector will fall down a black hole if we leave with no deal then your living in cloud cuckoo land.

EU is crapping itself a damn sight more than we should be but are playing a blinder so far in negotiations.

I'm not adverse to doing a decent deal with them but I'm also not afraid of telling them to stuff it if they push their luck to far.

Dil,

I can see the similarities.