U.K. Businesses "Extremely Concerned" Over Brexit Talks
THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: -- the U.K. will remain unconditionally committed to maintaining Europe's security. And the comprehensive new economic partnership we seek, will underpin our shared commitment to open economies and free societies in the face of those who seek to undermine them. Chief among those today of course is Russia. In a recent speech, President Putin said that while the interests of states do not always coincide, strategic gains cannot be made at the expense of others. When a state fails to observe universal rules of conduct and pursues its interest at any cost it will provoke resistance and disputes will become unpredictable and dangerous. I say to President Putin, I agree, but it is Russia's actions which threaten the international order on which we all depend. I want to be clear about the scale and nature of these actions. Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea was the first time since the second world war that one sovereign nation has forcibly taken territory from another in Europe. Since then Russia has fermented conflict in the Donbass. Repeatedly violated the national air space of several European countries and mounted a sustained campaign of cyber espionage and disruption. This has included meddling in elections and hacking the Danish Ministry of Defense and the Bundestag among many others. It is seeking to weaponize information. Deploying its state run media organizations to plant fake stories and Photoshopped images in an attempt to sew discord in the West and undermine our institutions. So, I have a very simple message for Russia, we know what you are doing, and you will not succeed. Because you underestimate the resilience of our democracies. The enduring attraction of free and open societies and the commitment of western nations to the alliances that bind us. The U.K. will do what is necessary to protect ourselves and work with our allies to do likewise. That is why we are driving reform of NATO, so that the vital alliance is better able to deter and counter hostile Russian activity. It is why we have stepped up our military economic support to Ukraine. It is why we are strengthening our cybersecurity and looking at how we tighten our financial regimes to ensure the prophets of corruption cannot flow from Russia into the U.K. So, we will take the necessary actions to counter Russian activity. But this is not where we want to be and not the relationship with Russia we want. We do not want to return to the cold war or to be in a state of perpetual confrontation. So, whilst we must beware, we also want to engage. Which is why in the coming months the foreign secretary will be visiting Moscow, for there is another way. Many of us here looked at post- Soviet Russia with hope. Because we know that a strong and prosperous Russia which plays by the rules, would be in the interests of the United Kingdom, Europe and the world. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia has the reach and the responsibility to play a vital role in promoting international stability. Russia can and I hope one day will choose this different path. But for as long as Russia does not, we will act together to protect our interests and the international order on which they depend. But the international order on which we depend faces other threats, including the challenge of regions where it is the absence of strong states, that allows instability and conflict to threaten the global order. And nowhere is this clearer than in the Middle East. We see the spillover effects of this instability in the challenge of mass migration and to humanitarian crises in countries like Yemen. And we see it more starkly of all with the threat from Daesh and Islamic terrorism. Britain is at the forefront of international efforts in the fight against this terrorism. From the battlefields in Syria and Iraq, to tackling the ideologues who fuel the hatred of Islamic extremism, and we will defeat it. But the conflicts we see in the Middle East are rooted in a complex mix economics, demographics, history and sectarian tension. In the past we have sought to remake countries or even entire regions at great cost to their people and ultimately to our own willingness to intervene when necessary. Of course, we must never be paralyzed by the myths that armed intervention is due to fail and the U.K. is not and will not be afraid to deploy its hard power where necessary. Indeed, this is happening around the world as I speak, from our world leading covert agencies to over 1,000 troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, to our Royal Air Force operating in the skies over Syria and Iraq and our Royal Navy patrolling the waters of the Gulf. But as we look to the future, it is the strength and stability of our partners that will define the trajectory of the region. So, if we are to achieve enduring stability in the Middle East, let's make an offer which supports both the long-term security and prosperity of our key partners and encourages them to be champions of the global order. As we are doing in countries from Saudi Arabia to Jordan, we will provide support to help and defend and protect their borders and their cities from external aggression, from terrorists to Iranian backed proxies. We will step up our efforts together with our European and American allies to help them not just contain but solve conflicts in the region. From seeking political solutions in Yemen and Libya, to bolstering a united Iraq, and working towards a two state solution in the Middle East peace process. As part of this, why we will stand firm in our support for the Iran nuclear deal, we are also determined to counter destabilizing Iranian actions in the region and their ballistic missile proliferation, working with the United States, France and Germany in particular. And drawing on the full capability of government and private sector, we make a long-term commitment to work with our partners to as they seek to reform their own economies. From Jordan as it deals with the challenges of refugees from Syria and which I will be visiting again later this month. To countries across the Gulf, undertaking social and economic transformation, for these reforms can provide far reaching opportunities for the people of the region and the wider world. As part of these efforts, we have champion steps towards greater rights and openness. Insistent on the direction of travel. Working with our partners in the region and recognizing that each country must find its own path. And this credible and coherent offer of support and partnership is a matter of urgency. As we see from the events of the last few weeks, from Lebanon to the GCC dispute. Our partners see the threats they face as immediate and are straining for the means to tackle them. So, it is in all of our interests to get this right. To bring long-term stability, long-sought stability to the Middle East. Ensure these growing economies can play their full role in the global system and re-enforce a rules-based international order. And at the same time as dealing with threats to the global order from state and regional instability, we must also step up to the challenge of ensuring that free markets and open economies deliver fair and equitable growth for all. As I argued at this banquet last year, free market economies have delivered unprecedented levels of wealth and opportunity. But they are losing popular support because they are leaving far too many people behind. The answer cannot be to turn our backs on the free market economy, which with the right rules and behaviors, is the greatest agent of collective human progress ever created. For it is when countries make the transition from closed restricted, centrally planned economies to open free market policies that we see live expectancy rise and infant mortality fall. Incomes rise and poverty fall, access to education rise, and illiteracy fall. Indeed it is the open free market economies which are the only sustainable means of increasing the living standards of everyone in a country. So, our challenge is to ensure that is exactly what they do. That is why here in Britain, we are building a modern industrial strategy that will help to bring the benefits of our trade to every part of our country. It's why we will act as a voice for free trade at the WTO. And also continue our efforts, including as I set out this year at the G 20, to reform the international trading system. To ensure that trade is not just free, but fair. Fair between countries and fair for the poorest countries. But as we all know, global economic growth is increasingly being driven by emerging economies and power houses in the east. And Africa's population growth means its significant will also only increase in the decades ahead. So, the West cannot right the rules of this century on its own. It is our partnerships with the countries of Asia and Africa in particular that will define the course the world takes. That is why I have asked the new international development secretary to build on the work of her predecessor, by making one of her first priorities a review of how the whole of government, together with the private sector can best support African aspirations for trade and growth. It is why we will use our relationships with the commonwealth and the summit here next year to work with partners in Africa, Asia and beyond, in building consensus and taking practical steps towards a global economy that works for everyone. And it is why I'm also clear that we will continue to increase our investment in Asia. I am committed to maintaining the golden era of our relationship with China. Not just as a vital trading partner, but also as a fellow permanent member of the Security Council whose decisions together with ours will shape the world around us. And I'm committed to deepening our partnerships with countries across Asia. Where I believe that Britain's global offer can have a hugely beneficial impact in ensuring that the region's potential is fully realized. That includes tackling the problems in the region today, such as North Korea. Where we have played a leading role in securing sanctions in response to the regime's outrageous proliferation of nuclear weapons. And it includes continuing to step up our efforts to respond to the desperate plight of Rohingya. Brought home to us again on our TV screen so graphically today with heartbreaking images of young children emaciated and pleading for help. This is a major humanitarian crisis, which looks like ethnic cleansing. And it is something for which the Burmese authorities, and especially the military, must take full responsibility. The U.K. is already the largest donor in response to this crisis and we will continue to play a leading role in bringing the international community together, working through the U.N. And with regional partners to do everything possible to stop this appalling and inhuman destruction of the Rohingya people. And beyond the immediate challenges of today, we must also invest now in longer-term security partnerships in Asia, such as those I have launched with Japan and India over the last year. And which we will look to develop further with countries across the region. Lord Mayor, as we look to the future, one of the biggest aspects of a global Britain will be our soft power and crucially that includes British business. Where open markets thrive, and the rule of law holds sway, British companies prosper. And they take in their DNA a way of doing business that brings not only commercial but wider benefits of good governance, respect for the law, corporate and social responsibility. So, as a global Britain makes its offer to the world, we are also offering the certainty and the competence of the high standards you set. The frame work of rules you follow. The values you live by and the ethos and culture you create. You are the bearers of a certain idea of economic order upon which the last century of growth has been based. As I believe the next will be based. So, you have a vital role to play. To honor the great tradition of your livery companies, by meeting that profound responsibility, not just to do business, but to advance the values, rules and standards on which good business and global security and prosperity depend. To champion the deepest trade links and open markets in Europe and support a new economic partnership with the EU that will be in all of our interests to ensure western strengths. To seek out and secure new markets from the Gulf to East Asia. Driving growth and productivity at home. Embodying British dynamism and expertise abroad. And giving proof to our firmly held faith in open markets and fair competition as the best route to lasting stability, security and prosperity. And I am confident that you can do this. For while our partners around the world want our support as a global power, they want something else too. They want what you bring. They want expertise. They want reliable partners for the long-term. They want the legal services, the accountancy services and the finance in which this great city of London leads the world. Because your engagement and your investments are the ultimate kite mark of confidence, a signal to the world that a country is a credible partner an open for business. So, Lord Mayor, these are challenging times, but I am confident that a global Britain has the ability and indeed the responsibility to rise to the moment, to work together to secure the best possible Brexit deal. A deal that is not just good for Britain and good for the EU, but also strengthens the liberal values we hold dear. And to work together to adapt and defend the rules based order on which our security and prosperity depends. For this is fundamental to our success, to that of our partners, and that of the world. So, let us step up to the task, and let us do so together with a confidence and conviction of a truly global Britain.</s>BIANNA GOLOGRYGA, CNN HOST: And you've been listening to the British Prime Minister speaking at the Lord Mayor's banquet. A wide-ranging topics that she covered there. She's taken the opportunity, however, to focus on the threat of Russia. Warning that Moscow is a global threat that is trying to turn information into a weapon. Diana Magnay is in London with more. And as I mentioned, Diana, wide ranging, talking about the Middle East, talking about Brexit, talking about a global Britain. What does that mean? Because she kept going back to that phrase, global Britain.</s>DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well she certainly has grand aspirations four what global Britain post Brexit means and that is that it will be upholding the liberal rules based order that it will be a bastion of the values that make Britain and British companies great. And that it will be continuing to make its imprint in preserving peace in the Middle East, or at least in trying to maintain it. That it will be attempting to reassure European and trans-Atlantic allies that its commitment to collective security in the form of NATO, these kinds of things. I mean it did feel to me as though there was an elephant in the room in terms of being more specific about Brexit. If you think about who her audience is, she's talking to the Lord Mayor of London who is the representative of the city of London around the world. And therefore, to an audience who is desperate to hear from her, that for example, she will give them a Brexit deal that they can accommodate, that will be good for business, that they will have a transitional arrangement, and if you think of frankly, the mess that she is in domestically, politically and in terms of Brexit, this does sound very, very highfalutin, to be bombasting Russia. To be talking about Britain's grand role on the world stage Post Brexit, when there's a lot of leg work to be put in to get there --Bianna.</s>GOLOGRYGA: When she can't even seem to keep her own cabinet together. Of course, this coincides with meeting that she had today with British business leaders. London of course, voting to remain in the EU. Let me ask you one more question though about something that seemed pointed directly at President Trump. At a time when the president is trying to bring the United States off of the global playing field, at least as a leader in that respect. She said, the role for the U.S. as shaping a global order is as important now as it has ever been. That seem directed at Donald Trump.</s>MAGNAY: Absolutely, I mean she seemed to have clear messages for important world leaders, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the both of them. I think that Britain still and Teresa May believes that there is an important trans-Atlantic relationship that Britain and the U.S. have. And she clearly feels that she has a sort of moral duty to enforce upon the U.S. President, you know, his place in these international rules based order which she feels Britain has such an important role in trying to maintain.</s>GOLOGRYGA: That's right, Diana. Her message to Vladimir Putin, we quote, we know what you our doing and you will not succeed. You underestimate the West and democracy. Powerful words from the Prime Minister. Diana, thanks so much for joining us. We will have more on Teresa May's political struggles later in the program. For now, will be back with more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment.