Business group warns that failure to secure deal by end of financial year would force firms to trigger contingency plans.
Stephen Martin, director general of the business group, is to issue the ultimatum to the government at the IoD annual dinner on Tuesday, saying “all we want for Christmas is progress on Brexit”.
He will say the time would come soon when the IoD may have to advise all of its members to be ready for no deal and urged the government to stop this outcome.
“We know from our recent surveys that over half of you are already in the process of contingency planning,” Martin will say. “The number of businesses who have actually implemented these plans is currently low, around one in 10, but this will snowball if we don’t find out soon what is going to happen in March 2019.
“It’s clear that the government has a small window of opportunity between now and the end of the first quarter of next year to secure a firm political agreement on transition. If we don’t have this commitment by the end of March, then business will come under pressure to implement contingency plans, even perhaps as far as relocating operations.”
He will say companies supported the idea of a transitional period after March 2019 to help the UK and rest of the EU adjust to Brexit, but they needed to know that cross-border trade would effectively remain unchanged.
Martin will say that businesses do not want to move to World Trade Organisation rules as it would be a “huge drop down from where we are now” but may soon have to start planning for that possibility.
“WTO is not the simple option, it would involve massive complexity to adjust our customs procedures, and we would lose not just our level of access to the single market, but also potentially all of the trade and investment agreements we have with other countries through the EU,” he will say.
“It’s not desirable, but it is possible. The time may come soon when we have to advise all of our members to be ready for no deal. We plead with the government that it does not get to this stage.” [...]
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