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May warns of ‘difficult times’ as UK prepares to exit the EU

“This is the G20, this is about talking to a number of world leaders”.

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In further signs of Britain’s strong position on the world stage, Chinese officials “strongly suggested” that Britain consider Japanese investment in the United Kingdom and “respond in a responsible manner to minimise any harmful effects on these businesses”.

Of course these are early days and uncertain times but provided Ms May takes a pragmatic view and is successful with the Brexit negotiations then nearly by default there could be at last a rebalancing of the economy and those same working class people who supported Out due to suffering mass immigration and low wages could be the real winners.

Half of Japanese investment in the European Union comes to the United Kingdom including companies such as Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nomura and Daiwa.

The 15-page letter reads: “Japanese businesses with their European headquarters in the United Kingdom may decide to transfer their head-office function to Continental Europe if EU laws cease to be applicable in the United Kingdom after its withdrawal”.

The list is the most tangible account anywhere of what businesses are asking for from the Brexit negotiations.

“Brexit isn’t about making the best of a bad job”, Davis will say in his statement, according to an excerpt released by his department.

During a trip to Northern Ireland on Thursday, Davis said Britain would ideally have tariff-free access to the EU’s single market.

This concern has already been noted by the Bank of England, but this is the strongest indication yet of other nations spelling out the implications of some types of Brexit.

“The government of Japan trusts that the United Kingdom and the European Union, by heeding these requests to the fullest extent and responding to them in a cooperative manner, will maintain the current business environment or alleviate the impacts of any radical changes, so as to remain an attractive destination for doing business”, the report says.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned of some of this ahead of the Brexit vote in a joint press conference with then-Prime Minister David Cameron.

“I’ve been very clear that I think we need that period of time, that stability, to be able to deal with the issues that the country is facing and have that election in 2020”.

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“I’m not going to pretend that it’s all going to be plain sailing”, she said. “I think we must be prepared for the fact that there may be some hard times ahead”.

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