Richard Branson has warned that a hard Brexit would be “an absolute disaster”.
Speaking to the BBC, the Virgin Group founder said that the British people and businesses will suffer in the event of a hard Brexit.
“I think Theresa May needs to be 100% honest with the public. She’s admitted that a hard Brexit would be an absolute disaster for the British people,” he said.
“From our Virgin companies’ point of view, a hard Brexit would torpedo some of our companies. If British business suffers, British people will suffer, and it’s really really important that people realise that.”
Branson went on to say the fall in the pound would particularly affect Virgin holidays, where fewer people would be able to afford to go on holiday due to the poor exchange rates.
The Virgin Group boss was speaking from the Virgin Galactic event, where one of his spaceships is set to reach space for the first time.
Branson’s space startup hopes that the SpaceShipTwo passenger rocket ship will reach further than 80km, which space is said to start.
“Overall the goal of this flight is to fly higher and faster than previous flights. We plan to burn the rocket motor for longer than we ever have in flight before, but not to its full duration. At the end stages of the rocket burn in the thin air of the mesosphere and with the speeds that we expect to achieve, additional altitude is added rapidly,” said the company in a blog post.
His comments come during a tough time for the prime minister, who has delayed the Parliamentary vote on the Brexit withdrawal agreement. The new vote will take place in January.
Theresa May is currently in Brussels where she is working on the backstop issue with the Irish border with EU leaders.