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Decentralized administrations, local authorities and businesses are at risk of being overwhelmed by the implementation of Brexit on January 1, unable to address it along with the urgent demands of the second wave of Covid-19, said an influential think tank.
Municipalities, trade standards officers and port health authorities are all part of the Brexit operation, but may be affected by the resurgence of the virus, the Institute of Government said.
“The pandemic will make these plans difficult. For example, critical personnel may become ill or need to isolate themselves and resources may be redirected to responding to the pandemic.
“And although the central government has managed to return resources to Brexit preparations after they were reallocated to help with the pandemic earlier this year, there is less capacity between delegated governments and local authorities to handle both,” says the report titled Brexit: How Ready is the UK?
While the UK faces a challenging winter, cooperation with local administrations will be more critical than ever, especially in understanding how the dual impact of Covid and Brexit is unfolding in key areas, including ports, airports and key industries they depend on. of cross-border supply. chains or labor.
The report comes a day after the National Institute for Economic and Social Research warned that Brexit “in addition to Covid-19 will likely amplify the impact on growth and employment in the first quarter of 2021, weakening the UK’s recovery in comparison with other countries, and reduce productivity in the long term ”.
The authors of the IfG report praise the government for passing most of the required legislation, including new immigration and agriculture bills, by the end of the year.
But questions remain. With less than 60 days to go, the government has yet to announce how the UK’s prosperity fund will function, how it will replace EU funding, be it for science or economic development, the report says.
It also predicts that the Northern Ireland protocol cannot be fully implemented in time with the IT systems and infrastructure for new border checkpoints that are not ready by January 1.
This will challenge the government to apply the “letter” of the withdrawal agreement and risk truck queues in ports like Liverpool or facilitate the flow of goods without the new regulatory and customs controls in place and the risk of ending up in the European one. Court of Justice.
While trust between the EU and the UK has been seriously damaged by Boris Johnson’s threat to “disapprove” of part of the withdrawal agreement, the IfG believes that if the offending clauses are removed from the Internal Market Bill, the EU should “be ready to show some flexibility” on the Northern Ireland protocol.
On border preparation in other parts of the country, the IfG says “more work is needed” to help companies prepare for new controls that many don’t know apply, whether there is a trade agreement or not. .
“The economic damage caused by the coronavirus has robbed much of the bandwidth and cash to do what is needed,” he says, adding that as recently as the end of October, a third of small businesses were still working under the illusion. that the transition period would be extended beyond December 31.
He also criticized the government’s communication campaign for focusing on Brexit opportunities rather than calling for action for businesses.
And he cautions that while Whitehall may have separate Brexit workflows and resources, Westminster shouldn’t be complacent.
“Even if the UK public administration has the resources to do this, delegated administrations, local authorities and businesses can be overwhelmed,” he says.
