The known unknowns

Leaving the DSM isn’t the only knock-on effect that the tech industry will feel from Brexit. One subject sits right at the top of the list of concerns for British tech companies: how freely will the skilled workers needed by industry be able to move between the UK and our EU neighbours?

“People are still a huge issue, because we still don’t know what the migration landscape will be like or where there are opportunities,” said Jeremy Lilley of TechUK. “Easy access to people and the ability to move people around Europe if you’re operating from the UK as your European hub – that’s going to be an important thing.”

Another big factor for crossborder trade is the reclaiming of VAT, an issue that is yet to be sorted. It’s also unclear what tariffs may be imposed, although IT companies don’t expect that trade deals will have a massive impact on software and services. “We build software – we don’t manufacture physical goods – and until we have clarity around trade and tariffs and agreements it’s hard to say what the impact will be,” said Wood.

“But the one thing I can say is that the customers that we have… say, ‘we’re not going to stop doing business with you just because there’s a cost of 2%’. We are trusted partners and people they work with are more important than some of those levies.”

There are potential benefits down the line, too, not least the opportunity to buy goods more cheaply from China and other techproducing countries. Import duty on goods entering the EU is set by Brussels, and in the UK that means paying duty on anything more than £15. Outside of the EU that could change. “At the moment, the threshold for things coming into the UK (or EU) is low and that poses e-commerce challenges,” explained Lilley. “You go to the post office to pay £40 or whatever to have the article released and that’s because we have a low threshold. The US has just increased its threshold to $800.”