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NI business will be placed at a significant disadvantage in the event of a No Deal Brexit.
The government’s contingency plans for the Irish border would bring trade to a standstill, according to FTA, the business organisation which speaks for the logistics industry.
Government contingency plans, revealed today (13 March 2019) after the defeat of the government’s Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons, would put NI’s economy at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to trading with Great Britain and Europe. And, as Seamus Leheny, FTA’s NI policy manager says, the plans could have more wide reaching impacts on NI’s economy in the event of a No Deal departure from the EU:
“No Deal contingency plans revealed by the government are simply unworkable from the point of view of the country’s logistics operators, as they would set NI’s trade at a distinct disadvantage with our main trading partners. Revealing plans like this at the eleventh hour, when business has so little time to prepare or change trading processes, is irresponsible – they would leave NI’s economy under serious threat from competition on both sides of the border. No one voted for that.”
Under the proposed plans, no tariffs, checks or controls would be implemented on goods entering NI via the land border – this is in stark contrast to the tariffs being applied to goods arriving at mainland ports like Dover and Holyhead. And, as Leheny continues, these differences could have security, as well as financial implications:
“NI business will be placed at a significant disadvantage in the event of a No Deal Brexit, with tariffs and controls placed on goods exported to the ROI and EU, but nothing similar imposed on competitor goods arriving in NI from the same locations. This would understandably make NI goods less attractive to overseas buyers and have a knock-on impact on the country’s manufacturers and distributors – and when you consider that competitor goods from the EU will pay tariffs for market access to the UK market, it brings into question where the protection for NI’s industry actually lies. Read more
Source: FREIGHT TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION
