Business leaders warn of 'supertanker GB' heading for the rocks

Business leaders have suggested the UK resembles a “supertanker heading for the rocks” that will not be saved unless factions in the Conservative party drop their own “red lines” for a Brexit deal.

As the prime minister, Theresa May, ruled out staying in a customs union despite pledging to reach out to her opponents after her historic defeat on Tuesday in the Commons, the Confederation of British Industry launched yet another appeal asking MPs to shift position and compromise.

The CBI’s deputy director general, Josh Hardie, said it was “very very, concerning” that the divisions in the Tory party had hardened so much. Unless MPs woke up to reality and shifted their position, Britain would be hurtling towards an “historic act of self harm” in the shape of a no dealover Brexit, he claimed.

Hardie said: “Our competitive advantage is being eroded already. The majority of contingency plans are already being executed. Companies have contingencies to be triggered at three months, two months, one month to go. It is not that contingencies will all happen in one fell sweep, but every week the deadlock continues the more contingencies plans will be enacted.

“That’s all to the detriment to the UK, to the economy, to jobs. It’s in the form of relocating, cancelling investment plans, stockpiling. These are all unproductive sunk costs.”

He said the CBI’s analysis was that there were five different groupings in parliament, with each rigidly expecting the other to come to their point of view.

“If that mindset doesn’t change, there will never be a majority for anything. We are a supertanker heading for the rocks and unless the crew gets together to change the destination we will be on the rocks,” he said.

The CBI did not consider May’s Brexit deal perfect but last week had urged MPs to back it to ensure a transition period and negotiation towards an ultimate trade deal that would minimise friction and barriers for importers and exporters.

Hardie said he thought MPs did listen to business leaders across the board – including those at Jaguar Land Rover, which last week announced 4,500 redundancies, mostly in the UK. But he said he was despondent about a group of MPs, including the Tories Jacob Ree Mogg and Suella Braverman, who have said that the consequences of a no-deal outcome had been exaggerated.

Hardie added: “I believe there is not a majority for no deal, and business can take credit for that, but there are still a significant number of MPs who do not understand that, who do not want to accept the evidence because it would contradict their own philosophy. People can still put their fingers in their ears. Capital has already been diverted from the UK to Europe. There is no question that significant sums of money have already been lost.”