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AHK, the official German-British chamber of industry and commerce, has said Boris Johnson is the “lesser evil” as it weighs up the impact of the upcoming British general election on its economy. Its managing director Ulrich Hoppe warns against a Jeremy Corbyn government and reveals the chamber would prefer Boris Johnson wins the nationwide vote. Mr Hoppe said Germany’s opposition to the Labour leader comes after Mr Corbyn unveiled the party’s economic plans.
Mr Hoppe told German press agency DPA: “It’s a weighing-up of the ‘lesser evil’.
“The economy is critical of the plans of a Corbyn government.”
He added Labour’s plans to implement a programme of nationalisation would “weaken economic power” and cause incentives to disappear.
Mr Corbyn is proposing to bring the Royal Mail, rail-operating companies, energy supply networks and water and sewerage companies into public ownership.
Mr Hoppe said: “This means that many consumers in the medium term certainly have even less money in their pockets to buy goods – and of course the German companies that serve the market will suffer from this.”
The AKA managing director also criticised Mr Corbyn’s plans to raise taxes for the wealthy, mandate companies with more than 250 employees to put 10 percent of its shares into a fund from which employees receive dividends and implement a four-day working week.
Mr Hoppe said he was unsure how such plans could work and questioned whether the UK would still be a viable place for German companies to work from.
He said: “Will it then still be competitive to produce here? German companies will then reconsider that.”
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But he said: “If possible, these additional costs will most likely be passed on to consumers.”
According to the AHK about 750,000 jobs in Germany depend on bilateral trade, while German companies employ more than 400,000 people in the UK.
The election campaign officially kicked off last week, as party leaders and MPs tour the country in a bid to convince the public to back them in the nationwide vote.
Mr Johnson hopes to hold on to power and secure a parliamentary majority in order to pass his Brexit deal through the Commons.
He received a slight boost today, as Nigel Farage announced his party would not contest seats won by the Tories in the 2017 election.
Instead he vowed to “take the fight to Labour” in a move which he said ruled out the possibility of a second referendum – adding that his announcement amounted to the creation of the “Leave alliance” he had proposed all along.
Mr Farage said at a press conference: “The Brexit Party will not contest the 317 seats the Conservatives won at the last election – we will concentrate our total effort fighting the Labour Party.”
Additional reporting by Monika Pallenberg
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