Cardiff University chief warns of Brexit’s impact
THE head of Wales’ largest university has issued a severe warning about the impact of Brexit on the UK, saying the huge disruption caused by a no-deal departure from the EU would be “intolerable” in a modern state.
In an email sent to all staff yesterday afternoon, Professor Colin Riordan, Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University, said: “I can barely believe that as I write this email at the end of February 2019, with little more than a month to go before the UK is scheduled to leave the EU, we are still at an impasse on Brexit.
“The decision-making process in our political system seems to have broken down, and not even our own Government is able to tell us whether we will or will not be having to deal with a series of major disruptive issues in a few short weeks.
“So far as Cardiff University is concerned, we now have detailed plans for the main problems that we can predict might arise from a failure to reach an agreement and from the very sudden termination of longstanding legal processes and agreements. There is no question, though, that having to actuate those plans would be deeply unpalatable and expensive.”
Prof Riordan said he believed we had “passed the point of no return” and the only rational move now was to ask for a delay in the provisions of Article 50, giving us another two years as a member state in order to clarify what we wish the future relationship to be.
He added: “It is time for Parliament and for the political parties to put the national interest first and acknowledge that the huge disruption and uncertainty that a no-deal exit would cause would be intolerable in a modern state. It is to be hoped that our elected representatives collectively recognise their obligation to protect the interests of the people of this country and act accordingly.”
Prof Riordan said there was cause for concern that the shape of the proposed fund to replace European aid was unknown, pointing out that Cardiff University had itself received many millions of pounds of research and infrastructure support from the EU.
He stated: “While the Treasury has guaranteed in the event of no-deal to fund Horizon 2020 research projects and Erasmus agreements that have been signed by the time we leave, no commitment has been given to fund replacements for either of these programmes ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review due to take place this year, which would leave a considerable funding and organisational gap both for international research and student mobility.
“The Immigration White Paper shows the Government’s intention to treat all EU students as international students from 2021, which at least is helpful to know. The same cannot be said of the proposal to issue temporary leave to remain for only 36 months to EU students who come to us after Brexit. Any students on programmes longer than three years would be pushed into the Tier 4 route towards the end of their studies, with all the uncertainty that would entail.
“One wonders at which point the Government might recognise that it would be possible to respect the referendum result and leave the EU without leaving the Customs Union – which causes the issue with the Irish border – or the Single Market,which causes the immigration issues just mentioned.”