May had warned Brexit could cause businesses to exit UK - Guardian

(Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May had warned privately that companies would leave Britain if the country voted in favour of Brexit, the Guardian newspaper reported, citing a recording of the remarks she made to Goldman Sachs last May.

"I think one of the issues is that a lot of people will invest here in the U.K., because it is the U.K. in Europe," May said in the recording obtained by Guardian, which was posted on the newspaper's website.

At the time, May was the home secretary and was in the "remain" camp on Brexit.

“If we were not in Europe, I think there would be firms and companies who would be looking to say, do they need to develop a mainland Europe presence rather than a U.K. presence? So I think there are definite benefits for us in economic terms.”

May's office could not be immediately reached for comment outside regular business hours.

(Reporting by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler)