Think tank warns of key flaws in Brexit trade deal
BORIS JOHNSON’S post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union leaves workers’ rights and environmental protections at risk of erosion and will slow the economic recovery, an early analysis has warned.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank’s assessment, published yesterday, says that the bar for proof of breaches of the “level playing field” to safeguard the issues is so high that it will be rarely enforced.
The Prime Minister has insisted that the UK will not regress on the issues and instead has vowed to use the “legislative and regulatory freedoms to deliver for people who felt left behind”, but, as Tory Euro-sceptics pore over the 1,246-page treaty to see if they can give their backing, the IPPR added to criticism of the deal from the fishing industry.
Marley Morris, a director focusing on trade and EU relations, warned that the commitment in the deal not to decrease current standards in a bid to gain an unfair competitive advantage is “considerably weaker than expected” and sets “a very high bar for proof”.
“Given it is notoriously difficult to prove that any lowering of protections affects trade or investment, the deal is unlikely to prevent the UK Government from weakening EU-derived labour and environmental policies if it so chooses,” his report says.
Mr Morris later added: “This leaves protections for workers, climate and the environment at serious risk of being eroded.”
The IPPR also said that, by the UK having “watered down” the level playing field requirements to secure “only limited benefits in market access”, there will be a blow to trade.
There will likely be disruption to trade flows, including at the border, in the short term while barriers to trading with the nation’s biggest partner will “likely lead to slower growth and a more prolonged economic recovery” from the coronavirus pandemic, the analysis says.
“This thin deal is better than no deal at all, but still creates major trade barriers with our closest neighbour, which will inhibit growth and slow the economic recovery,” Mr Morris added.
A Government spokeswoman responded that ministers are “fully committed” to upholding the “high standards” agreed in the trade deal.
A hasty analysis of the treaty secured on Christmas Eve began in earnest when it was published in full on Boxing Day – less than a week before its implementation.
In his first interview since brokering the agreement, Mr Johnson denied the UK would regress on workers’ rights and environmental standards, two issues both sides have committed to uphold in the deal.
Mr Johnson told the Sunday Telegraph: “All that is really saying is the UK won’t immediately send children up chimneys or pour raw sewage all over its beaches. We’re not going to regress, and you’d expect that.”