‘Brexit doom misplaced as opportunities knock’

Bloomberg

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said predictions of “doom” for the British economy following the decision to leave the European Union are misplaced and “will continue to be proved wrong” as the U.K. negotiates its departure from the bloc.
Britain will get a good deal from the remaining member states because it is in the interests of those countries’ economies and companies to continue open trade with the U.K., Johnson told members of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee in London on Thursday.
“Those that prophesied doom before the referendum have been proved wrong and will continue to be proved wrong,” Johnson said. “Our good friends across the channel have a symmetrical interest” in any agreement and will want “the best possible deal on goods and services for the sake of their companies,” he told lawmakers.
Johnson twice declined to say if he wants Britain to remain in the European single market, just as Brexit Secretary David Davis refused to answer direct questions on the issue in Parliament on Wednesday. The foreign secretary said Britain will seek the best deal possible, adding that it could get a better deal than it has had to date as a member of the bloc.

‘Huge Value’
“We’re going to get a deal that will be of huge value, possibly greater value, in goods and services for our friends on the continent and for businesses investing in the EU,” Johnson said. “Any attempt to punish U.K. financial services doesn’t make any sense for Europe.”
Johnson recalled the power and influence of the British Empire around the world as he pledged to build Britain as a “soft-power superpower” and restore relations with countries that had been neglected by his predecessors.
Brexit “is not any kind of mandate for this country to turn in on itself, haul up the drawbridge and detach itself from the rest of the world,” he said. New trade deals present an “extremely exciting prospect,” he said, adding that “we will be going out again to places where perhaps people haven’t seen so much of us as in the past, places where people thought we’d forgotten about them.”
Johnson also offered reassurance to companies wanting to hire foreign workers and nationals from around the world who want to work in the U.K. “There’s no inconsistency whatever between the desire to take back control of our borders and be open to to skills from around the world,” he said

UK risks intellectual capital shortage if migration restricted

Bloomberg

The UK faces losing out on intellectual capital in technology and science by restricting immigration as part of its split from the European Union, according to Morgan Stanley.
Brexit may hamper future research development as well as existing capabilities, outweighing even the impact of potential loss of EU funding as the largest risk, Carmen Nuzzo, a senior economist at Morgan Stanley in London, wrote in a note to clients Wednesday. The U.K. received 8.8 billion euros ($9.7 billion) in research, development and innovation from the bloc from 2007-13, the fourth-largest share, according to the Royal Society.
“The biggest threat comes from potential migration restrictions that could harm international collaboration and the U.K. attractiveness for talent,” she wrote. “This is a long-term risk but one that could increase the more the U.K. government prioritizes immigration control over single market access. International collaboration is key to academic and corporate sector research.”