BUSINESS leaders have expressed concern about the UK government hardening its line on the customs union and insisting that Britain will definitely leave.
Brexit Secretary David Davis has said the UK's position is "perfectly clear". "There's no doubt about it," he said. "We are leaving the customs union but we are aiming for a good future for Britain."
However, Tracy Black, Scotland director of the Confederation of British Industry, insisted there was still a "business case" for remaining in the trading bloc.
Black said: “The idea behind a customs union is simple: a single set of tariffs for goods imported from outside the EU, enabling tariff free trade within it.
"It brings no obligations over freedom of movement or payment, and removes some of the heaviest trade barriers."
Charandeep Singh, of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said businesses should not be faced with additional costs when the UK leaves the customs union.
He said: "We must not reduce the opportunities or increase the cost burden of existing exporters - maintaining close alignment with existing arrangements is critical to ensure our business communities can get on with doing business and creating jobs. “
Andy Willox, the Scottish policy convenor of the Federation of Small Businesses, warned against a "dramatic change in trading conditions".
Willox said: "As the UK Government develops options for future customs arrangements, we’ll be pressing the case for a solution which works for smaller businesses north of the border."
David Lonsdale, director Scottish Retail Consortium added: "Retailers want to see a post-Brexit arrangement between the UK and the EU that works for consumers, so that there’s little difference in terms of the availability of affordable, quality products when Scottish shoppers make purchases or visit stores."
Meanwhile, supporters of the pro-independence Business for Scotland said that leaving the customs union would be a disaster.
Tom Barrie, owner of Currie Solutions, an international haulage firm based in Dumfries, said: “The Government’s decision to rule out a customs union is baffling, indeed, it’s a huge own goal.
“Not only will the exit from the customs union add unnecessary complication to new trade that doesn’t exist today, it will without doubt put a financial burden on every citizen in the whole country."
Niall McLean, director Geo-Rope Ltd, a Highlands-based civil engineering service company, said: “From a business perspective, we rely on European parts and components for our machinery. Right now we are easily able to purchase items from Germany and have them delivered the next day. Any additional hindrance on that ability will harm the business.
“The added cost for extra administration means everybody is going to be paying more - the whole of society, I might add, not just businesses."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel