CBI Director Says Businesses Do Not Seek to Reverse Brexit or Rejoin EU

Rain Newton-Smith, director-general of the CBI, stated that businesses are not seeking to reverse Brexit or rejoin the EU. She said the evidence shows Brexit has created costs for business, yet none of the leaders she speaks with want to relitigate the referendum. Newton-Smith noted that five years ago businesses would have supported joining the customs union.

She added that the world has changed and CBI members are not asking to join it now. GB News reported her comments on the day after Sir Keir Starmer resigned as prime minister. The UK government’s EU reset deal is projected to increase UK GDP by 0.3 per cent over 15 years, according to official estimates.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves stated in March that Brexit could result in an eight per cent reduction in GDP. A summit scheduled for July 11 to finalise the arrangement has been delayed following Starmer’s resignation on 22 June 2026. Newton-Smith raised concerns about Britain being excluded from European supply chains amid protectionist measures such as the Industrial Accelerator Act.

She said the UK is caught in the middle of American and Chinese industrial firepower, describing the outcome as a lose-lose situation. Lord Elliott, former chief executive of Vote Leave, told GB News that once the UK left the EU in January 2020, Brexit was finally done.

He said Brexiteers need to get back on the playing field and remain proud of how they voted while making the case that rejoining would be disastrous.