Former New York mayor brands Brexit the 'stupidest decision by a country' - except electing Trump
2 min read
Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he thought Britain’s decision to quit the EU was the “single stupidest” decision by a country - but that the US then "Trumped it".
Mr Bloomberg said that “it is really hard to understand why a country that was doing so well wanted to ruin it”, adding that the UK and US' decisions have left them being seen as hostile to immigrants.
The media mogul also suggested he may have reconsidered the decision to open a major headquarters for his company, Bloomberg, in London had he known the UK would vote to leave the EU.
“We are opening a brand new European headquarters in London – two big, expensive buildings. Would I have done it if I knew they were going to drop out?,” he told a Boston technology conference, in comments reported by the Guardian.
“I’ve had some thoughts that maybe I wouldn’t have, but we are there, we are going to be very happy.
“My former wife was a Brit, my daughters have British passports, so we love England – it’s the father of our country, I suppose.
“But what they are doing is not good and there is no easy way to get out of it because if they don’t pay a penalty, everyone else would drop out. So they can’t get as good of a deal as they had before.”
"I did say that I thought it was the single stupidest thing any country has ever done but then we Trumped it.”
He added: “One of the things that is hurting us both in the United States and in the UK is that we have employees, not a lot but some, who are starting to say: ‘I don’t want to work here – can we transfer to some place else? This country doesn’t like immigrants,’” Bloomberg said.
However at a speech in London recently, attended also by the capital's mayor Sadiq Khan, Mr Bloomberg asserted that he remained “very optimistic" about the city’s future.
“Whatever London and the UK’s relationship to the EU proves to be, London’s language, timezone, talent, infrastructure and culture all position it to grow as a global capital for years to come," he said.
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