Britain's negotiations with global business world would be stalled by EU exit: FM

Negotiations with businesses from foreign countries seeking to invest in Britain could be harmed by a Brexit, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a keynote speech here Wednesday.

Addressing an audience at Chatam House, an international affairs think tank, Hammond spoke of the impact of a decision by Britons in June to quit the European Union.

He said: "A vote to leave would trigger a two-year window for the UK to negotiate the terms of our exit from the EU. And in the meantime, we will be able to offer British businesses no assurance at all about their future access to EU, or for that matter, to other markets."

"We will have nothing to say to American, Japanese, Chinese companies looking for a base in which to invest to supply the EU market. Our economy would literally be on hold, whilst our competitors, including our European competitors, forge ahead."

Hammond said at the end of two years there would be no guarantee that an agreement would have been reached, prompting what he described as "years of uncertainty for Britain, just as we are getting back on our feet."

He said like any divorce, negotiations with former EU partners would likely be difficult.

"They'd be frustrated that having offered Britain a special -- and unique -- status in the EU, their efforts had been in vain."

"The blunt fact is that our former partners in Britain will not feel that they owe us any favors; they will have no interest in helping us to thrive outside the EU."

Hammond said none of the bilateral free trade models would offer anything like the access Britain has now to the EU single market of 500 million people.

Hammond warned that if Britain left, negotiating arrangements with the 27 remaining countries of the EU would almost certainly take years.

"Balancing the burdens and the benefits, none of the options that are remotely likely to be deliverable comes close to matching the deal that we already have on the table," said Hammond, who was speaking at an event to debate alternatives to EU membership. Endit