Brexit secretary David Davis promised guests a post-Brexit travel regime for the City of London in a speech delivered at the UBS European Conference on Tuesday, 14 November.
Mr Davis announced to around 700 investors, financiers and regulators his plans to negotiate with Brussels a special travel regime for the City of London that will allow so-called ‘intra-company’ transfers of senior employees in financial institutions across EU member states. ‘We want to ensure that our new partnership with the EU protects the mobility of workers and professionals across the continent,’ he said. ‘Whether this means a bank temporarily moving a worker to an office in Germany or a lawyer visiting a client in Paris, we believe it is in the interests of both sides to see this continue.’
This address comes as a relief amidst industry-wide concerns that leaving the bloc would halt free movement across Europe, affecting the prosperity of businesses in the post-Brexit environment.
The immigration debate has remained a prominent point of discussion in government, but Mr Davis’ peers say that intra-company transfers between offices within Europe should be treated differently to regular forms of immigration. It has been suggested that immigration regulations will likely fall under a British work permit system when the UK has officially exited the Union.
Mr Davis was quick to quash fears that the British economy may be left weak as a result of Brexit. The secretary says that the City will flourish post-Brexit because the EU had mutual interests in having access to London’s capital markets and expertise.
Besides announcing plans for a post-Brexit travel regime for the City of London, Davis said that the government will work to secure a crucial implementation period of around two years after March 2019. Davis said, ‘it [the implementation period] avoids businesses in both the UK and the EU having to take any decisions before they know the shape of the final deal.’ He added that this agreement could be reached ‘very early next year’.
Further reading: UK EXPORTS TO EU RISE ON WEAK POUND