British premier sees ‘difficult times’

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May speaks in a recorded interview on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.

LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May warned of possible “difficult times ahead” for Britain’s economy in an interview screened Sunday as she sought to build post-Brexit trade ties at the G20 summit in China.
Speaking to BBC television, May also ruled out a new general election anytime soon, saying Britain needed stability following June’s referendum vote to pull out of the European Union.
She voiced optimism about the health of Britain’s economy but warned that there could be tough times ahead.
“I’m not going to pretend that it’s all going to be plain sailing,” she said.
“I think we must be prepared for the fact that there may be some difficult times ahead. But what I am is optimistic.”
May, who took office in July after David Cameron quit following the referendum, also confirmed Downing Street briefings that she is not intending to call a general election soon.
This is despite the ruling Conservative party having only a small majority in the House of Commons, which could make it hard to pass controversial laws, and Jeremy Corbyn’s deeply divided opposition Labour lagging in opinion polls and holding a leadership contest.
“I’m not going to be calling a snap election,” May said.
“I’ve been very clear that I think we need that period of time, that stability, to be able to deal with the issues that the country is facing and have that election in 2020.”
May is meeting world leaders including US President Barack Obama and China’s Xi Jinping at the G20 summit.
She told the BBC she wanted to “start to scope out” with them how future trade deals would look post-Brexit.
But Obama spoke out strongly against Brexit during the referendum campaign, warning Britons they would go “to the back of the queue” for a US trade deal if they voted to leave.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker also said Sunday he opposes trade negotiations between Britain and other nations while it remains part of the bloc after Australia said it was about to launch talks on the issue.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, struck an upbeat tone on the Russian economy, saying it had stabilized, and pledged to cut the country’s budget deficit as well as its dependency on oil and gas exports.
“Our economy has stabilized .... We plan to reduce the budget deficit further, and to continue to work on cutting the budget’s revenues dependency on the exports of hydrocarbons,” Putin said in a speech at the G20 summit.
Russia’s economy contracted by 3.7 percent in 2015 due to weaker oil prices, the country’s chief commodity export, and international sanctions imposed over Moscow’s role in the Ukrainian crisis.
According to a forecast by analysts at the central bank, Russia’s economy will show low quarter-on-quarter growth in the third and fourth quarters of this year.
Putin also said the government would continue to work on improving the business climate in Russia.