The BCC looks forward to engaging with the UK Government and the New Zealand Ambassador in the final stages of these negotiations and to giving our views on the draft text at the earliest opportunity.
The BCC looks forward to engaging with the UK Government and the New Zealand Ambassador in the final stages of these negotiations and to giving our views on the draft text at the earliest opportunity.
Business voices need to be heard loud and clear in the dialogue between the UK Government and the European Commission over the next few weeks.
Labour shortages across the economy, in particular HGV drivers, are identified as a factor in relatively weak imports and exports performance. This further makes the case for Government’s new supply chain task force to find solutions to these issues affecting the UK economy.
An agreed solution between the United Kingdom and the EU on how the Protocol should work and businesses comply with it, is by far the best outcome. It offers clarity for businesses and certainty for inward investment in Northern Ireland.
BCC looks forward to working with the Europe Export Support Service and hope it will prove complementary to the unrivalled support the Chamber Network provides to exporting UK companies
Announcement of a delay is sensible given the ongoing issues with ensuring trader readiness, the need to build more border control posts and the skills shortages crisis.
Figures remain concerning. Taken in conjunction with German trade data from earlier this week, the UK is clearly doing less trade with the EU than 3 years ago.
William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, “The Government needs to work now with businesses to ensure full consideration to the impacts are given before any decision to completely pull the plug on CE-marked goods, risking incurring costs to our economy that we may come to regret.”
Comparing June 2021 with June 2018, the last stable period before EU exit, total UK exports, including to the EU, were down by 7.4% and imports by 2%. This is a further signal of the dampening effect on UK-EU trade caused by the move to the new trading arrangements under the TCA.
Responding to the news that fully vaccinated travellers from the EU and US will not have to quarantine, British Chambers of Commerce Co-Executive Director, Claire Walker, said: “For the hundreds of thousands of people directly employed in the travel industry and the many more that are part of supply chains, this will be welcome news."
