British economy "doomed", says Guy Hands

Monday 24 October 2022

One of Guernsey's wealthiest, and potentially most influential, residents has criticised the UK's Conservative party, and its Brexit negotiations, and has said the national economy is "frankly doomed" in the Tories' hands.

Guy Hands - the multi-millionaire owner of private equity firm Terra Firma - has called for a renegotiation of the Brexit deal in a national radio interview today.

Speaking on Radio 4's Today show, Mr Hands said "no" when he was asked if Britain is in good hands with the Tories.

Elaborating, Mr Hands said the Conservative party has "got to move on from fighting its own internal wars, and actually focus on what needs to be done in the economy, and admitting some of the mistakes they've made in the last six years which have frankly put this country on a path to be the 'sick man of Europe'."

UK economy "frankly doomed" without Brexit renegotiation

Guy Hands, CEO of private equity firm Terra Firma & long time Tory supporter, says UK is on a path to being "the sick man of Europe" & would eventually need a "bailout from the IMF"https://t.co/nslBUb4Bjf | #R4Today

— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) October 24, 2022

Mr Hands has also said that the UK will need bailing out by the International Monetary Fund if urgent action is not taken to redirect Brexit.

With Rishi Sunak likely to be named Prime Minister today, after Boris Johnson confirmed he would not enter the ballot yesterday, Mr Hands was asked about reparing the damage caused by Liz Truss's disastrous six week premiership. He replied that the problem has not just developed over the last six weeks, as the last six years have led to this point.

After calling the UK the "sick man of Europe", Mr Hands - a former Tory donor and past-President of the Oxford University Conservative Association - said that whoever does move in to No. 10 Downing Street this week ultimately has to secure better access to the EU's single market. 

"The reality is when they did Brexit, they had a dream and the dream was that of a low tax, low benefit economy. Truss, to be fair to her, tried it, it clearly isn't something which is acceptable to the British people. The British people have never voted or even shown any inclination to vote for the extreme Thatcherism that Brexit needed. 

"Once you accept that you can't actually do that then the Brexit that was done is completely hopeless and will only drive Britain into a disastrous economic state. 

"So, I think if the Tory party can own up to the mistakes they made and how they handled Brexit, and have someone leading it who actually has the intellectual ability and the authority to renegotiate Brexit, there is a possibility of turning around the economy, but without that the economy is frankly doomed."

Steadily increasing taxes, higher interest rates, increasing numbers of people relying on social security and "eventually a bail out from the IMF like we were in the 70s" are all on the horizon for Britain if Brexit is not renegotiated said Mr Hands. 

Super wealthy private-equity investor Guy Hands says the British economy is “frankly doomed” unless the government succeeds in fundamentally changing the Brexit negotiated by Boris Johnson. He says Truss’s disastrous unfunded tax cuts were necessitated by Brexit but…

— Robert Peston (@Peston) October 24, 2022

were conspicuously unsustainable. He urges Britain’s next prime minister to somehow obtain better access to the EU’s single market or see the country head inexorably to financial collapse. @BBCr4today

— Robert Peston (@Peston) October 24, 2022

The BBC's Nick Robinson used Twitter today to deny that the national broadcaster has previously been biased in favour of Brexit in its reporting. He was responding to claims of surprise from some listeners that Radio 4 had interviewed someone with such strong views against Brexit.

 Pictured top: Guy Hands speaking at an event in 2019 (Wikipedia).