Brexit: Business owners in Portsmouth unsure what to expect

The impact of what Brexit will mean continues to mystify small business owners in the United Kingdom following the latest news from the Houses of Parliament.

Porstmouth’s high streets are packed with small, local businesses. Image: Simon Ostler.

Pressure has grown on the Prime Minister to reveal legal advice regarding her deal prior to the Parliament vote on her Brexit deal.

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox is set to release a reduced version of the document, but MPs argue that the entire document should be made public.

Calls for its release have been fuelled by increasing fear in recent weeks that the United Kingdom will be considerably worse off once Brexit is completed in March 2019.

But the chaotic events in Parliament have caused great confusion amongst business owners on Portsmouth’s high streets.

The Federation of Small Businesses published their view that a ‘no-deal’ Brexit would “disproportionately hit small businesses in the UK”.

Paul Cable, 62, who runs his own business on Commercial Road, said: “I’m not worried because I don’t think we are going to leave.”

Mr Cable, who voted leave during the referendum, added that the deal had no chance of being voted through by Parliament, and that fallout from Mrs May’s proposed deal raised questions that nobody knows the answer to.