A group of leading business figures, economists and former Brexit negotiators has issued a strongly worded open letter to Sir Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham and other potential Labour leadership contenders, warning against any attempt to dilute Britain’s post-Brexit independence through a future “reset” with the European Union.
The letter, organised by the Independent Business Network and signed by dozens of prominent business leaders and economists, marks the tenth anniversary of the 2016 referendum and argues that Brexit remains one of the most significant democratic decisions in modern British history.
Among the signatories are businessman and former British Chambers of Commerce director-general John Longworth, hotel entrepreneur Sir Rocco Forte, former Brexit negotiator Lord David Frost, economists Roger Bootle, Julian Jessopand Professor Patrick Minford, along with Wetherspoons founder Tim Martin and entrepreneur Peter Cruddas.
The signatories argue that the referendum result delivered an unprecedented democratic mandate, with more than 17.4 million voters backing Britain’s departure from the European Union.
While acknowledging that some sectors experienced disruption during the transition out of the EU, they contend that Brexit has restored powers previously exercised in Brussels, including control over trade policy, domestic regulation and law-making.
The letter highlights Britain’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, alongside expanding relationships with countries including Australia, New Zealand, Gulf nations and partners across the Indo-Pacific region, as examples of opportunities made possible by leaving the EU.
The business leaders argue that Britain is now free to negotiate trade agreements tailored to its own economic interests and that future governments should focus on maximising those opportunities rather than revisiting arguments settled by the referendum.
Concerns Over Labour’s EU Reset
However, the central purpose of the letter is a warning against proposals that could draw Britain closer to EU regulatory structures.
The signatories say they support friendly relations with European neighbours and continued cooperation on security, defence and organised crime. But they argue that cooperation must not come at the cost of sovereignty.
They express concern that future negotiations could lead to Britain accepting EU regulations, financial contributions or legal oversight without having any meaningful influence over the rules being imposed.
According to the letter, such arrangements would create significant burdens for British businesses by requiring compliance with EU regulations across large sections of the economy.
The group argues that this would not merely affect companies trading with Europe but could end up imposing EU regulatory frameworks across domestic industries, increasing costs and reducing competitiveness.
For many of the signatories, the concern is not simply political but economic.
They warn that renewed regulatory alignment could make it harder for Britain to develop emerging industries including artificial intelligence, biotechnology, fintech and genetic engineering, sectors where they believe the UK enjoys greater flexibility outside the European Union.
The letter also argues that Britain’s independent regulatory framework has helped attract investment into London’s financial sector and warns that excessive alignment with Brussels could undermine those advantages.
Fears of Growing Business Uncertainty
The intervention reflects growing concern among some business leaders that Labour’s promised “reset” with Brussels could create uncertainty over the long-term regulatory environment facing British firms.
Many businesses have spent years adapting to the post-Brexit landscape. Critics of deeper alignment argue that another major shift in regulatory direction would impose additional costs, create uncertainty for investors and potentially weaken Britain’s ability to negotiate independently with fast-growing markets outside Europe.
Supporters of Brexit often point to the ability to set independent policies on trade, regulation, taxation and innovation as among the most important long-term benefits of leaving the EU.
The signatories argue that surrendering any of those freedoms would undermine the very advantages that many businesses believe are beginning to emerge.
A Call to Honour Existing Commitments
The group welcomed Keir Starmer’s repeated pledges that Britain will not rejoin the European Union, the Single Market or the Customs Union.
However, they are urging Labour and any future leader to go further by ruling out any arrangements that could effectively place Britain back under EU influence without formal membership.
Their demands include:
- No return to the Customs Union.
- No return to the Single Market.
- No restoration of free movement.
- No transfer of legislative or judicial authority to EU institutions.
- No automatic adoption of EU regulations.
- No renewed financial contributions to Brussels.
- No restrictions on Britain’s independent trade and economic policies.
The letter concludes by arguing that Brexit was never intended as an end in itself, but rather as a means of restoring democratic accountability and allowing Britain to chart its own course.
Ten years after the referendum, the signatories say the challenge for government is not to reopen old battles but to deliver the economic growth, investment and trade opportunities that Brexit was intended to make possible.
Their message to Labour’s leadership is clear: maintain constructive relations with Europe by all means, but do not sacrifice the sovereignty, democratic control and economic flexibility that millions of voters believed they were choosing in 2016.
READ THE LETTER IN FULL HERE:
Dear Prime Minister, Andy Burnham MP, and other potential leadership candidates,
As the United Kingdom reaches the tenth anniversary of the historic referendum in which the British people voted to leave the European Union, we write to reflect on the significance of that decision and to urge your government to remain steadfast in protecting the sover-eignty, freedoms and opportunities that Brexit has delivered and which the British people have consistently voted for.
The referendum of 23 June 2016 was one of the most important democratic exercises in modern electoral history. More than 17.4 million people voted to leave the European Union, making it the largest democratic mandate ever delivered by the British electorate. Across England, Wales and significant portions of every other nation of the United Kingdom, voters supported a vision of Britain as a self-governing, outward-looking and independent country, free to determine its own laws, borders, trade policy and economic future, and to hold its own politicians accountable for the decisions they take.
Ten years on, Brexit remains a defining moment in our national story. While opinions on the decision continue to differ, and while we acknowledge that the transition out of the European Union has brought genuine difficulties in respect of the EU (although not the rest of the world) in certain sectors – including agri-food exports, financial services passporting and the movement of professionals across borders — there can be no doubt that the United Kingdom today enjoys powers and freedoms that were previously exercised by the institutions of the European Union. We have restored control over our trade policy, regained authority over our regulatory framework and reaffirmed the principle that laws governing the British people should be made by those directly accountable to them.
We further recognise that the trade agreements concluded since 2020, have afforded benefits and established the institutional architecture and legal precedents upon which genuinely transformative agreements can now be built. The ongoing negotiations with the United States, the accession to the CPTPP and the deepening of bilateral relationships across the In-do-Pacific, Australia, NZ, the Gulf States and the Americas represent a strategic rec tion that would simply not have been possible under the constraints of EU member These opportunities must now be pursued with urgency and ambition.
We recognise that constructive and positive relations with our European neighbours are desirable on both sides of the Channel. Europe will always be a trading partner, albeit dimin-ishing. Mutual Cooperation on security, defence, and the fight against organised crime are sensible, especially as the world is becoming a more dangerous and unstable place. Indeed, Britain’s contributions to European security, both through NATO and through bilateral de-fence arrangements between nations, demonstrate that deep and meaningful partnership does not require political subordination. A mature relationship with the European Union should be based on mutual respect and shared interests.
However, cooperation must not come at the expense of sovereignty.
We are therefore concerned by suggestions that any future reset in relations with the European Union could involve concessions that dilute the independence secured through Brexit.
Any arrangement that places Britain back under the effective control of European institu-tions, requires the automatic adoption of EU rules, limits our ability to conduct an independent trade policy, limits our ability to develop economic growth in key areas, or commits the United Kingdom to renewed financial obligations to Brussels, would represent a fundamental departure from the promises made to the British people — and would surrender precisely the freedoms that make the opportunities described above possible.Indeed such an approach would mean that EU rules would apply to all British business, domestic and those who export around the globe, not just those few that export to the EU. This would be a major burden and drag on economic growth.
The British people voted to leave the European Union. They did not vote to leave in name only while remaining subject to external control in practice. Nor, we would argue, did they vote for a decade of managed decline in which the potential of independence goes unreal-ised. The case for Brexit was always a case for ambition. That ambition must now be demonstrated in practice.
We therefore acknowledge, honestly, that there is work still to be done. The productivity gains, the investment flows and the trade diversification that independence makes possible exist but have not yet been fully delivered. This is not an argument for reversing course. It is an argument for governing with greater boldness and consistency – for removing the domestic regulatory barriers and EU barriers that impede growth, for concluding the trade agreements that remain unfinished, and for making the structural reforms to planning, hous-ing, skills and capital markets that only a self-governing country is free to make at the pace and scale required.
We must be free of the tariff barriers to competition that the Customs Union would require, itself a major source of inflation adding to the cost of living. We must have the freedom to set our own interest rates and a have a dependent currency. It is vital that the Brexit freedoms afforded to the City of London are protected and boosted. The favourable business and regulatory environment that has attracted fintech companies must be nurtured. We must never allow the stultifying effect of EU red tape to curb the potential of Al, biotech and genetic engineering, all of which have great potential for the economy. Nor must Net Zero rules and carbon borders be allowed to hit extraction industries and the energy necessary for
As Prime Minister, you have repeatedly stated that your government will honour the manifesto upon which you were elected and will not seek to rejoin the European Union, the Single Market or the Customs Union. We welcome those commitments and urge you to uphold them.
We therefore call upon your government to ensure that any future negotiations with the European Union are guided by the following principles:
No return to the Customs Union. No return to the Single Market. No restoration of freedom of movement. No transfer of any legislative or judicial authority to EU institutions. No acceptance of dynamic regulatory alignment without explicit democratic consent. No new financial contributions to the European Union budget. No arrangements that underm United Kingdom’s independent economic, business and trade policy.
Brexit was not an end in itself. It was a means of restoring democratic accountability and giving the British people greater control over the decisions that affect their lives. Ten years after the referendum, the task before the government is not to reopen old arguments, nor simply to defend past decisions, but to ensure that the opportunities of independence are pursued with the vigour and conviction that the British people were promised.
On this anniversary, we celebrate the decision of the British people to govern themselves.
We honour the democratic mandate delivered in 2016. We acknowledge honestly the challenges that have accompanied that decision. And we urge your government to ensure that no future agreement compromises the sovereignty, independence and freedoms that the British people voted to restore — while holding it equally to account for the ambition and delivery that independence demands.
Yours sincerely,
Mr. John Longworth (Chairman and Businessman)
Mr. Lance Forman (Businessman)
Lord Henry Bellingham (Businessman)
Lord Moylan (Businessman)
Lord Redwood (Businessman and economist)
Lord Jon Moynihan (Businessman)
Mr. Simon Boyd OBE (Businessman)
Mr. lan Herbert (Businessman)
Mr. Daniel Hodson (Businessman)
Mr. Brendan Chilton (Businessman)
Mr. Anthony Murphy (Businessman)
Mr. Johnnie Arkwright (Businessman)
Mr. Malcolm Penny (Businessman)
Mr. Roger Bootle (Economist) Mr. Julian Jessop (Economist)
Professor Patrick Minford CBE (Economist)
Mr. Simon Woodcock (Businessman)
Mr. Jeremy Hoskins (Businessman)
Lord Peter Cruddas (Businessman)
Mr. Jeremy Fenn (Businessman)
Ms. Suzanne Evans (Businesswoman)
Sir Rocco Forte (Businessman)
Mr. Brian Monteith (Businessman)
Earl of Inchape (Businessman)
Mr. Patrick de Pelet (Businessman)
Mr Tim Martin (Businessman)
Mr. Alan Halsall (Businessman)
Mr Brian Kingham CBE (Businessman)
Mr Gregory Shenkman (Businessman)
Mr. Nicholas Allen (Businessman)
Professor Robert Tombs (Academic)
Lord David Frost (Former Chief Negotiator)
Hon. Anne Marie Morris (Businesswoman)
Ms. Catherine MeBride (Economist)
Mr. Christopher Mills (Businessman)
Mr. Bob Gullett (Businessman)
Mr. Nick Guinness (Businessman) Mrs. Pam Watts (Businesswoman)
Mr. Roger White (Businessman)
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