Firms not bluffing when they threaten to shift away from London: mayor

The mayor of London Sadiq Khan delivers a speech at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton, Britain, September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Files

LONDON (Reuters) - Companies are not bluffing when they threaten to move business from London due to uncertainty over Britain's departure from the European Union, mayor Sadiq Khan said on Monday, adding a transition deal would allow them to make plans more securely.

Asked about Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein's tweet that he would spend more time in Frankfurt due to Brexit, Khan told BBC radio: "He's articulating publicly what many CEOs and investors who love working in London have been saying privately, which is that unless they have certainty about what happens after March 29, 2019, they have got to make a plan B."

"He's not bluffing. When I speak to businesses each day, they're not bluffing," Khan said

(Reporting by Alistair Smout, editing by Estelle Shirbon)