Scots firms need Brexit clarity

ith just 13 months to go until the deadline to leave the EU, Scottish business owners are still no clearer about what this will mean for their organisations or the wider economy. Uncertainty, an apparent lack of planning and no clear indication of the post-brexit outcome are causing concerns among Scotland’s business community.

The recent HLB International Accountancy Network survey on Brexit, of which French Duncan is the Scottish member, revealed that 50 per cent of Scots business owners believe their firm will be financially worse off and 64 per cent felt the Scottish economy would also suffer.

It is a worry for most business owners who don’t believe that proper planning on Brexit is being undertaken.

The majority of business owners produce annual forecasts and generally plan at least three to five years ahead – yet the UK government seems to barely know what is going to happen with Brexit next week.

This is not a political issue for Scottish businesses – it is simply a realistic view that all events need to be planned for, but most Scots owners think that, the way things are going, the Brexit negotiations will not come out well if the situation continues in this way.

Indeed, our survey found that just 8 per cent of Scots business owners believe David Davis will negotiate the best deal while 56 per cent think Michel Barnier is going to triumph.

But with an economy that already lags behind the rest of the UK, Scottish business owners can’t afford a Brexit deal that potentially causes disruption and does damage to an economy with already-fragile growth. Scotland needs the best deal possible and some clarity in the near future is essential.

The answers to the key questions of trade, tariffs and staffing cannot be left until the end of next March. There needs to be detail now about what Brexit will mean. To assume everything will be all right is at best optimistic and could more reasonably be considered naive.

The concern is that party politics will trump what is best for the nation and the need to do something politically expedient will override good common (and business) sense.

In every answer in this survey the majority of Scottish businesses believed that the market, the economy and their business would be worse after Brexit than before and the margin was higher in Scotland in all questions compared with the rest of the UK.

For dynamic, outwardlooking, progressive Scottish businesses, Brexit looks like an own goal that may scupper their chances of growth over the next five years.

For the sake of reducing any potential damage to business and to the economy, the government needs to deliver answers sooner rather than later. ● Graeme Finnie is managing partner of accountants and business advisers French Duncan