News: Pull together to make Brexit work - Platten tells MPs

  • Brexit
  • Published:28 Jul 2016

In an address to MPs and Peers at the All Party Parliamentary Group for Maritime and Ports, UK Chamber of Shipping CEO Guy Platten stressed the need for politicians to come together in order to make Brexit work for the country.

Mr Platten said; 

“The economy is heavily dependent on confidence.  Investment decisions are dependent on confidence.  Recruitment is dependent on confidence.

“In a large part that confidence is dependent on the rhetoric of politicians and the mood they help to create.  I can tell you that the shipping industry has confidence in the UK’s ability to succeed after Brexit.  

“We ask that, whichever side you were on, politicians of all colours come together to make Brexit work for the country.  Yes, let’s be realistic, yes, hold government to account, but we all have a responsibility to set partisanship aside and come up with new ideas and highlight new opportunities for the country.”

“The shipping industry will play a major part in that – in our own right,  and with our partners such as Maritime UK, and crucially with Government.”

In his remarks to the APPG, Mr Platten stressed that the UK Chamber stands ready to provide support and expertise to the government and parliamentarians;  

"We have a clear role to play in forging the future path of this trading nation.  

"That’s why we have made an open and comprehensive offer to every relevant government department, including the new departments of Leaving the European Union and International Trade, that the UK Chamber’s ideas, expertise and experience is at their disposal at a moment’s notice. I extend that offer to Parliamentarians today."

Mr Platten also reiterated the industry's "unashamedly pro-trade and pro-immigration" stance and called on government to meet these needs in the negotiations to come. 

After questions from MPs, Mr Platten challenged Eurosceptics to show how a global points based immigration system could work in practice without what he called the "mind-boggling" bureaucracy that companies currently face when recruiting non-EU citizens.