On Thursday 22nd November the NBCC Brexit Forum: ‘Brexit: What next?’ took place at the Embassy of the Netherlands in London.
We were delighted that our members joined us to discuss the latest developments in Article 50 negotiations. We felt that this was indicative of the importance we all place on involving ourselves as far as possible in the Brexit dialogue.
The objective of this event was to update you as fully as possible on the state of play of negotiations. The event and the updates provided proved particularly relevant since the news that EU and UK officials had agreed a draft political declaration on their future relationship had just been announced. The content of the event was therefore hot off the press and attendees had ample opportunity to ask their pressing questions to our panellists.
The forum was opened by a speech from Paul Drechsler CBE, who provided a business perspective on the political updates. His advice was as follows: "This deal is not perfect - business is both clear and honest on this. But it is the best option and the only option on the table today that we have for avoiding a cliff edge and building a pathway to a good future deal.
Mr Drechsler’s speech was followed by views from our expert panellists, including an update on the state of play of negotiations, from both a UK and an EU perspective, given by Rem Korteweg and Tim de Wit respectively. Further panellists included Mathew Lynch, who addressed citizens’ rights issues followed by Phillip Souta’s legal take on the situation. Meanwhile, the macroeconomic perspective was covered by James Knightley.
We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to all of our speakers, without whom this event would not have been possible. We are especially grateful to Phillip Souta, who doubled as the event’s moderator.
The event was a great success and we are proud to have given our members a platform to be inspired by the rigorous exchange of ideas and to feel more prepared and up-to-date than they did before attending.