UK’s prime minister-in-waiting Theresa May says 'there will be no attempts to remain inside the EU' and calls out Amazon, Google and Starbucks to 'pay your taxes'
Theresa May, the only candidate left to become the UK’s next prime minister, has asserted that “Brexit means Brexit” and will make no attempts to remain inside the EU upon taking up the leadership position, saying “we are going to make a success of it”.
Theresa May
Speaking in Birmingham this morning (11 July), May said the referendum was a vote to leave the European Union but “it was also a vote for serious change” and that the only surprise about the UK’s vote to leave is that “there is so much surprise in Westminster about the public’s appetite for change”.
May cited a “growing divide between a more prosperous older generation and a struggling younger generation”, and a “gaping chasm between a wealthy London and the rest of the country” as reasons for Britain wanting change.
To move the Conservative party away from the elitist attitude in which many view it, May commited the party to be “at the service of ordinary working people” to make Britain “a country that works for everyone”.
As part of this, May promised big businesses will be held more accountable, to have both consumers and employees represented on company boards. The to-be PM also took a stab at Amazon, Google and Starbucks, saying they ‘have a duty to put something back, a debt to their fellow citizens and a responsibility to pay their taxes’.
“The people that run big businesses are supposed to be accountable to outsiders - non-executive directors who are supposed to ask the difficult questions, think about the long term and defend the interest of shareholders. In practice they are drawn from the same narrow social and professional circles of the executive team and as we have seen time and time again, the scrutiny they provide is just not good enough.
“If I am PM we are going to change that system and have not just consumers represented on company boards but employees as well. I want to make shareholder votes on corporate pay not just advisory but binding. I want to see more transparency, including the full disclosure of bonus targets and the publication of pay multiple data - that is the ratio between the CEO’s pay and the average company worker’s pay.”
Shortly after May gave her campaign speech her rival Andrea Leadsom quit the leadership race. Leadsom said she was withdrawing in the "interests of the country" because she didn't have "sufficient support to lead a strong and stable government" if she were to win the leadership bid.
The announcement that Leadsom was pulling out of the race comes just days after she had come under fire from reporters and Twitter users after the Times published an article asserting that Leadsom had suggested in her own words that she would make a better prime minister because she was a mother and May was not. She apologised for the comments this morning.