Customs blueprint warns EU of new import taxes if no Brexit deal

BRITAIN is threatening new laws to impose VAT and customs duties on all goods from the European Union if no Brexit deal can be agreed.

A 14 page blueprint entitled Future Customs Arrangements for the UK said that if there is no deal Britain will treat the EU as other non-eu countries by bringing in new levies and taxes on traded goods at its ports and airports. The warning was intended to force EU officials to start addressing the future shape of the deal which Britain will strike with the EU in March 2019.

The news came as Labour was hit by fresh Brexit chaos. Bill Esterson, the shadow trade minister, said the customs issue would be up for negotiation in talks with Brussels. But Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, said staying in would be a “disaster”.

Britain is offering either a “new customs partnership” to mirror Brussels tariffs on goods, or a “streamlined customs arrangement” which would see a continuation of some current rules.

Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit coordinator, wrote on Twitter: “To be in and out of the customs union and ‘invisible borders’ is a fantasy. First need to secure citizens rights and a financial settlement.” However, a European Commis- sion spokesman said the papers were a “positive step”, adding: “The clock is ticking and this will allow us to make progress.” Ministers will now publish a Customs Bill and a Trade Bill to impose new custom duties and VAT tariffs on trade with the EU in case no deal can be agreed. The document made clear that without any deal “the UK would treat trade with the EU as it currently treats trade with non-eu countries. Customs duty and import VAT would be due on EU imports. Traders would need to be registered. Traders exporting to the EU would have to submit an exploration declaration, and certain goods may require an export licence”.

Of the two options, the streamlined arrangement would see Britain and the EU develop new technology to clear goods speedily through ports and treat the UK as part of the EU. The customs partnership would see the EU’S customs rules mirrored by the UK so that “all goods entering the EU via the UK have paid the correct EU duties.

The document conceded that there should be transition period to ease Britain out of the EU. The EU’S chief negotiator Michel Barnier said on Twitter: “The quicker #UK & EU27 agree on citizens, settling accounts and #Ireland, the quicker we can discuss customs & future relationship.”

David Davis, the Brexit secretary, said the post-brexit temporary customs union would be “as close as possible to the current arrangements”.