Looking to the future as the Brexit trade deal is discussed

COUNTY business people came together at Harrison Clark Rickerbys’ Brexit conference to discuss what the future holds, with speakers including Richard Butler, regional director of the CBI, and Ian Mean from Gfirst LEP giving their predictions for the outcome of the current Brexit deal.

Mr Butler, who heard both the Prime Minister and Jeremy Corbyn at the CBI conference, said: “No-one in the EU wants a no-deal Brexit – that is the least favoured option.

“We have some success in getting Government to take on board the business issues.

“They have acknowledged the need for frictionless trade, but we have not made as much progress as we would like on migration issues.

“We are cautiously optimistic that Theresa May will be able to get something through Parliament; they may not want what is on the table, but they want a ‘no deal’ even less.”

Businesses are making contingency plans – Mini will stop production for a month in April, bringing forward their summer shut-down, with concerns for many firms over supplies of components and materials.

He said: “No company wants to be the one to stop Jaguar Land Rover’s production line – one major distribution company has even bought its own North Sea ferry so that it can continue to bring its lorries in and out of the UK from different ports.”

Mr Mean, board member for Gfirst LEP, reminded the conference, which drew together businesses from advanced manufacturing, health and social care, education, agriculture, professional services, finance and construction and engineering, that the existing deal was just the beginning and the focus should remain on how people are affected by the final Brexit deal.

He said: “It is important, whatever our future relationship with Europe, that business does not have lots of extra paperwork and bureaucracy.

“I think it will be at least another year of negotiations on the real nitty-gritty of the deal before we can see our position clearly.”

Businesses attending included Renishaw and A2D Solutions.

Practical advice for businesses came from Frank Myers, chair of Herefordshire’s Business Board, who spoke of his own experience as a successful exporter and business owner – he owns Myers Road Safety and MCP.

“We need to redouble our exporting efforts,” he said, “especially if we can now sell anywhere.

“What concerns me is the paperwork and how that will increase – I sold £1,400 of goods to Switzerland which they certified as being of EU preferential origin.

“I then had someone from HMRC come to my office for four hours to check that that was correct; I am concerned about whether that kind of bureaucracy will get worse.”

Robert Capper, head of sectors for HCR, said: “Brexit is above all about people and the quality of the discussion we have had here today reflects the focus of the region’s business leaders on what is best.”

Delegates had the chance to vote live throughout the conference – 82 per cent said they would vote the same way now as they did in the referendum, with 46 per cent now less confident of their business success post-brexit than they had been a year before.

While 32 per cent have explored markets outside the EU since the referendum, 43 per cent still believe that EU membership in some form is the best option for the UK economy.

They also have the chance to vote as the situation develops – Harrison Clark Rickerbys has an online Brexit survey for businesses across the region which will be open until March at hcrlaw. com/brexit-survey.

Harrison Clark Rickerbys has 470 staff and partners based at offices in Worcester, Cheltenham, Birmingham, Hereford, the Wye Valley, the Thames Valley, Cambridge and central London, who provide a complete spectrum of legal services to both business and private clients, regionally and nationwide.

The firm also has a number of successful teams specialising in individual market sectors, including health and social care, education, advanced manufacturing, agricultural and rural affairs, defence, security and the forces, and construction.

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