Your Weekly Key Messages: 6th January
Brexit At Four: Trade Reset Must Deliver
On 23rd December we published our annual assessment of the Brexit trading deal. The survey by the BCC’s Insights Unit of 1,111 businesses (92% SMEs) shows the urgency for the Government to reset trade relations with the EU is increasing. The main headlines were:
Two fifths (41%) of exporters disagree the Brexit deal is helping them grow sales.
Almost half (46%) of businesses want the Government to make it easier for UK staff to work in the EU.
More than three quarters (77%) of traders are unaware of details about new safety and security regulations affecting EU imports in January 2025.
The BCC has set out the key issues the Government must fix in its trade relations reset with the EU.
Here’s what our Director General Shevaun Haviland told journalists:
“The Government has said economic growth is its number one priority but if that is going to happen then we need to export more, and the EU is still our biggest market.”
“Our modelling indicates that if exports had grown 1.0% in 2024, compared to our forecast of a 2.0% contraction, then the economy could have grown up to 1.7% instead of 0.8%. That is a big difference.”
“There is no time to lose in driving forward the changes we need to see. Firms are suffocating under a blanket of rising costs and improving our trading relationship with the EU could provide the growth needed to transform the dour outlook many are facing.”
Click here to read the full press release.
Click here to read the full report.
How Britain can thrive in the age of tariffs and protectionism
On the same day as our Brexit at Four report was published, Shevaun also wrote an opinion piece in the Daily Telegraph highlighting the importance of trade in growing the UK economy.
Some of the key points in her article – she wrote;
“As we go for growth in 2025, the UK has huge strengths to build on, be that in financial services, renewable energy, engineering, manufacturing, transport or food and drink. It has been encouraging to see the Government seek to build a strong relationship with the private sector to help turbocharge investment and exports in these sectors.”
“However, we must confront the reality that we are living in an increasingly complex and fragmented world, which presents unique challenges for business and trade.”
“As we approach 2025, it’s vital that the UK gets match fit for what will be an increasingly fractious era for trade. Businesses want to see a positive, bold vision for Britain – one that keeps the global trade system as open as possible, and increases investment and the contribution of exports to economic growth.”
“With an uncertain era of trade on the horizon, including the prospect of tariffs, it is now more important than ever that we revitalise the conditions for businesses to sell more goods and services internationally.”
“Doing so will not only elevate the UK’s position at the top table of world trade, but it will also power up our economy at home.”
Telegraph subscribers can read the full article here