- UK and EU negotiators failed to make a breakthrough in the latest round of Brexit trade talks.
- EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said the deal was “unlikely” by the end of this year.
- The two sides have just weeks to negotiate an agreement to avoid a chaotic no-deal scenario in January.
- But the UK’s businesses and borders are set for disruption within four months – even if there’s a deal.
- Figures from industry in the UK say that small businesses in particular are not prepared for the disruption.
- There is particular concern in Northern Ireland, where there is “palpable nervousness” about the future of many businesses.
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Boris Johnson is called upon to “speed up” negotiations with the European Union amid growing fears that the UK is looking for a severe economic shock as a result of leaving the Brexit transition period without a trade contract.
The seventh formal round of trade talks between UK and EU negotiators on Friday concluded with both sides still a long way from securing a free trade agreement by the agreed autumn date.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said yesterday he was “disappointed” and “concerned” by the lack of progress in talks. He also said he was “surprised” by what he described as a UK refusal to “move forward” on key issues, as Prime Minister Johnson “told us in June he wanted to speed up the process in the summer.”
“Too often this week it felt like we were going more backwards than forwards,” Barnier said.
David Frost, the man Johnson chose to lead the UK’s negotiating team, said there was “not much progress” in talks and that while an agreement was “still possible”, it was “clear that it was not easy” would be achievable. “
Both sides remain on the side of European fishing boats’ rights after Brexit and the EU’s commitment to the United Kingdom signing “equal playing field” rules to prevent British companies from signing those in Europe.
The two negotiating teams will subsequently meet for formal talks over the week beginning on Monday, September 7th.
The feeling among those close to the negotiations is that any breakthrough that leads to a deal is likely to come in October. This would be around the eleventh hour and leave companies with only weeks to adapt to changes it would bring.
There is also concern that even if both sides succeed in concluding a trade contract, there may not be enough time for EU and UK lawyers to change into a legally operational text. A definitive text, if any, is expected to be more than 700 pages long and the process of making technical agreements worth hundreds of pages often takes months.
The Labor Party has called on Prime Minister Johnson to “get a grip” and prioritize securing a deal with the EU quickly, describing it as “by far the most important deal the UK will strike” as an independent trading nation.
“Last December, the prime minister told the country he had an ‘oven ready’ deal and in June he claimed it could be delivered by the end of July,” Rachel Reeves, shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told Business Insider .
“The lack of more progress in August only adds to the uncertainty for industry from freight to agriculture. When the Prime Minister returns from his holiday, he must get a grip and ensure that his government and the EU accelerate talks faster and deliver the deal. promised the voters. “
She warned that companies need so much time and guidance to prepare themselves for new controls and paperwork on goods going to and from the UK’s largest trading partner. Senior figures in UK business say that smaller companies in particular are still targeting the coronavirus and do not have the bandwidth to prepare for Brexit as well.
A senior figure in the UK food sector, whose companies rely on smooth cross-border trade with the EU, told Business Insider: “The bigger companies are thinking about it [Brexit] now but the smaller ones do not know what they are going to do and I worry a lot about them. We can not keep all their hands through all this. “
Labor’s Reeves said: “So many companies are working incredibly hard in response to the economic challenges of Covid-19 and they need to know that the government is negotiating with the existence of people in mind.”
Deal if not deal, Britain is on the verge of disruption
YVES HERMAN / POOL / AFP
Even if the UK and the EU succeed in concluding a trade contract, Johnson’s UK government’s refusal to close the EU’s and the customs union’s market means there will be disruptions from January onwards. the borders of Britain.
The government has re-drafted an eyebrow-raising plan to turn a 15-mile motorway in Kent County into a counter-flow system pending delays for lorries trying to cross the English Channel to the EU, despite having a trading post in place . UK officials estimate that by 202 there will be more than 400 million additional customs controls on goods going to and from the EU. The Johnson government is also building about a dozen new customs control centers around the country to help handle new controls, including a handful in Kent.
The UK Government’s campaign to communicate to the public information about these new changes – “Check, change, go” – has been accused of glaring at the level of unrest business owners have to prepare themselves for.
Maddy Thimont Jack at the influential UK think tank The Institute for Government claimed last week that the communications campaign risked “dragging people into a false sense of security” by focusing on “sunlit uplands” of leaving the EU instead of being clear explain about the many changes that it I will bring about.
There is particular concern for companies in Northern Ireland which, unlike those in Great Britain, have not been given a period of six months to adapt to new border controls in just four months time.
From January, companies in Northern Ireland will be importing goods from the rest of the UK for a range of new controls relating to customs, safety and security requirements, and strict animal and plant-based rules guod. This is because the province remains the only EU market and customs union to avoid a controversial hard border with the Republic of Ireland.
The British government said earlier this month that it would release Northern Ireland companies from some of these new costs and bureaucracy by effectively paying a company to process customs documents for imports on their behalf. Companies welcomed the announcement, but said they needed more information to know how the system would actually work.
Businesses in the province have also asked the UK government to provide support in dealing with strict controls on animal goods, which are set to cost importers thousands of pounds. An individual export health certificate is required for each individual type of animal is good and costs £ 200.
A senior industry figure in Northern Ireland said: “There is now a nervousness due to a lack of solution on export health certificates. A palpable nervousness that has not been the case so far.
“For some it will be make or break in terms of their presence in Northern Ireland.”
