Ridicule as Balls claims firms want to stay in customs union
BREXIT campaigners yesterday poured scorn on a report co-written by former shadow chancellor Ed Balls which said most firms want Britain to stay in the EU’s customs union.
The former Labour MP was among researchers at Harvard Kennedy School in the US, where he is a senior fellow, who compiled the findings from interviews with more than 80 small and medium-sized firms and trade bodies.
The overwhelming majority who voiced an opinion wanted to stay in the customs union, the report claimed.
A majority also wanted Britain to remain in the single market after Brexit, believing that new free trade deals would be worse.
Mr Balls said: “They are saying, ‘We want to stay in the customs union, we either want to be in the single market or an FTA which gets close to that’.
“What we are hearing here from small and medium-sized companies is they are very fearful this uncertainty and potential for a hard Brexit could cause quite big damage to the British economy.” But Labourbacking retail millionaire John Mills, founder of home shopping firm JML, who also took part in the survey, said: “A lot of these concerns are greatly exaggerated.”
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen pointed out that former shadow chancellor Mr Balls lost his House of Commons seat in the 2015 general election.
Nick Timothy, the PM’s former joint chief of staff, also warned against trying to stay in the customs union because he said it would stop Britain embracing opportunities to be gained outside the EU.