While negotiations over the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union continue to stagnate, with EU negotiator Michel Barnier yesterday estimating that it would take months for talks to progress to their second phase, the Confederation of British Industry and the Trades Union Congress released a rare joint statement demanding the UK Government and EU negotiators to stop playing “poker” with peoples’ lives and to guarantee the rights of expat citizens after Brexit.
Rarely in agreement, the joint statement marks the first time the TUC, which has 6 million members, and the CBI, which represents 190,000 companies, have made a joint statement since June 2016. There again, Brexit was the central issue. Following the UK vote to leave the bloc, the two groups – worried and surprised by the referendum result – asked what would happen to expatriates.
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