The Latest News from Wrexham Business Professionals

North Wales companies could go bust within three weeks of Brexit, warns First Minister

The First Minister warned business leaders in Wrexham that some companies in North Wales would go bust within three weeks as a result of a bad deal Brexit. According to the Rt Hon Mark Drakeford AM, leaving the EU on the wrong terms would spell disaster for the Welsh economy and if there was another poll he would urge people to vote remain. Prof Drakeford was speaking at a meeting of Wrexham Business Professionals, a group made up of successful businesses and highly skilled professionals working together to promote regional prosperity and the enterprise and expertise that exists in the region.  He told the packed audience that a decade of the longest and deepest period of austerity in the 200 year history of a modern industrial United Kingdom has meant the Welsh Government budget was now back to where it was in 2009. He said: “Ten years into austerity the signs of stress and strain in our public services are absolutely real. There is only so long you can go on stretching the elastic. As the elastic shrinks and the wounds expand as we try to keep the show on the road in the way the people of Wales expect." “And that is certainly true of our ability to fund local government that local authorities carry out in education, in housing those things that matter every single day in the lives of people in Wales." “Austerity remains a defining characteristic but that is compounded by the impact of Brexit. Welsh businesses are more exposed than any other part of the United Kingdom to the adverse effects of a no deal Brexit. Manufacturing remains a larger part of our economy than any other part of the United Kingdom. And our exposure in the field of agriculture and food production is enough to challenge because if you have none tariff barriers in trade with our largest and most important market." “Over the past 20 years with the help of European...... more ›