UK Government should pay heed to anecdote

ANALYSIS IT is easy to understand the wish of Scottish Engineering’s chief executive to focus on something that can be done to improve the sector’s lot, amid the “chaotic” Brexit situation.

Paul Sheerin says it does not feel as if the business community’s “protests” over Brexit have achieved any positive impact. He believes a drive to boost productivity could, in contrast, yield positive results.

That said, he does – in terms of his overall assessment of Scottish engineering companies’ worries about the UK leaving the European

Union and one alarming anecdote – highlight the damage being done already by the Brexit chaos. Such contributions to the debate remain crucial, even if they are falling on deaf ears at Westminster.

Mr Sheerin cited the example of one Scottish engineering company which had been supplying a Dutch business. He noted the arrangement, started fairly recently, had been going well but that the Dutch company had ended it because of fears over Brexit.

He said: “The Dutch company informed them, ‘We are concerned about the manifestations of Brexit, so we are going to keep our supply chain on the European mainland’. They [the Dutch company] didn’t know for certain what the impact was going to be but they wanted to play safe.”

This may be just one story, but it would seem almost certain there are many others.

The UK Government should reflect on this, especially its Brexit-minded members who seem most unperturbed by the idea of a cliff-edge departure from the EU next March.