‘Lack of deal can hurt UK aerospace industry’
LONDON: Britain’s aerospace industry would be badly damaged if the country leaves the European Union without a free trade deal and any divergence from EU rules would be “utterly self-defeating”, said a committee of lawmakers.
The industry is one of Britain’s largest employers of skilled labour, generating a revenue of £32 billion (RM175.5 billion) a year and accounting for seven per cent of the country’s manufacturing output.
But companies are worried that Britain’s exit from the world’s largest trading bloc could lead to increased Customs checks and fracture intricate supply chains built up across the continent over decades.
Failure to agree on a way to harmonise Customs processes would push up costs and risk the long-term viability of their factories, said the lawmakers.
The aerospace industry could face £1.5 billion a year in extra costs after Brexit if firms exporting components to the EU face additional checks at the border, industry body ADS Group told the committee.
“The health of the industry relies on components moving quickly across borders with delays of even a few hours having a significant impact on costs. Given this, the government must ensure Custom procedures are kept to an absolute minimum after we leave the EU,” said the chair of Britain’s business committee, Rachel Reeves, an opposition Labour lawmaker, yesterday.