UK politicians court business leaders as Brexit drags on and election approaches

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The U.K.'s political leaders have pitched their election promises to business leaders gathered in London on Monday as uncertainty surrounding Brexit, and a forthcoming general election, dominate the economy.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson who leads the ruling Conservative Party addressed delegates at the Confederation of British Industry conference in London ahead of speeches by the leader of the main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, and the leader of the center-left Liberal Democrats, Jo Swinson.

He also acknowledged that Brexit, which is still not finalized more than three years after the referendum on EU membership in June 2016, was causing disruption to business and hampering investment and job creation and repeated that "we must get Brexit done." Speaking to delegates, Johnson blamed a "blockage" in Parliament for prolonging the Brexit uncertainty, after it effectively forced Johnson to request a further extension to the Brexit deadline, to January 31 2020., re-drawn by Johnson and the EU, has not received a majority of support from U.K. lawmakers and a general election on December 12 is seen as a way to break the deadlock over the deal.

The CBI, which represents 190,000 businesses employing around 7 million people, has been a vociferous critic of Brexit; its Director General Carolyn Fairbairn warned in July that a no-deal Brexit would be tantamount to "a tripwire into economic chaos." in the third quarter after it reported a 0.3% rise in gross domestic product from the previous quarter, in which the economy had contracted by 0.2%. Brexit is largely seen as the villain in patchy U.K.

 

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