An EU customs partnership would be a massive headache for businesses
SIR – I read about the Prime Minister’s plans for a customs partnership with the EU (report, May 2), and shuddered at the thought of actually trying to operate it without causing the most massive compliance headaches.
We want British business to be able to operate efficiently and productively, with the minimum of regulation. We want to encourage entrepreneurs to take risks and start businesses, employ people and generate wealth for the country. In public, the Prime Minister and other politicians will all agree to the two sentences above, but their actions suggest otherwise.
At present, virtually every business in Britain is having to deal with the new data protection rules. The aim of these is sound, but the actual regulation is so all-encompassing and badly thoughtout that it draws all sorts of businesses and business functions into its web. It is a classic bit of regulation designed by bureaucrats who have little real knowledge of how data are used and how they are managed.
In the same way, the customs partnership is being proposed almost entirely by people who have no real idea of how international trade works and certainly don’t have a clue about the already substantial cost of clearing goods imported into the UK.
After Brexit we want to encourage companies to trade internationally, not make it so complicated that it puts them off even considering it. Alastair Macmillan
White House Products Ltd Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire
SIR – I am at a loss to understand why the question of the Northern Ireland border has become such an existential issue for the Government (Leading Article, May 2).
Surely if the EU is concerned that an open border will allow us to flood their countries with non-compliant imports, then it’s up to the EU to propose solutions, not us. Peter Melson
Droxford, Hampshire
SIR – In 2004, when my wife and I retired, we moved from Surrey to Donegal in Ireland. Irish and UK number plates are very different and we could not escape re-registering our car in Ireland. Simultaneously, we had to pay an import tax. There was no need for a hard border in order to collect this tariff.
It would seem that where there is a will, a way can be found. Paul Hunt
Cloghan, Co Donegal, Ireland
SIR – The stench of betrayal grows ever stronger as politicians from both Houses devote their energies to undermining Brexit (report, May 2).
If we MPS do not deliver what the majority of the British people instructed us to do, we will never be trusted again. It will make the expenses scandal look like a walk in the park.
After more than 40 years, our great nation can once again take control of her destiny. We abuse this opportunity at our peril.
Richard Drax MP (Con)
London SW1