UK vote to seek Brexit delay increases uncertainty: German industry

BERLIN (Reuters) - A vote by Britain's parliament to seek to delay when it leaves the European Union only adds uncertainty about timing to an already difficult situation, Germany's DIHK industry group said in comments published by German media on Friday.

“The companies no longer have any idea what they should be preparing for,” Martin Wansleben, executive director of the DIHK Chambers of Industry and Commerce, told the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper chain.

“In addition to uncertainty about what is going to happen, now there's uncertainty about when it will happen,” he said.

British lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to seek a delay in Brexit, which means the March 29 departure date set down in law is likely to be missed.

Wansleben said 70 percent of German companies with business in Britain expected further erosion in 2019, and only one in five of those firms described its UK business as good.