FTA response to UK’s negotiating objectives

Friday 28 February 2020

Commenting on the announcement of the UK’s negotiating objectives for the next stage of Brexit, Elizabeth de Jong, Policy Director at FTA said:

“The announcement of the government’s negotiating mandate with the EU is missing elements relating to the logistics sector, the businesses charged with keeping Britain trading. Over recent months, FTA has made repeated requests of the UK government to prioritise the needs of logistics in its negotiations around the future trading relationship with the EU or risk a devastating effect on the UK’s highly interconnected supply chain.  The business organisation has also warned of knock-on effects on UK PLC’s future productivity, and on the economy as a whole but these concerns seem to have been overlooked. 

“Elements of the government’s approach do give us hope, for instance the commitment towards no tariffs and quotas and some degree of trade facilitation to help industry now that frictionless trade is no longer a political objective. FTA will continue to engage with Government to ensure that maximum use is made of these facilitations, both through the negotiations and at UK level. However, we would like to see more ambition for road, aviation and rail transport, to allow operators on both sides to continue serving UK-EU trade routes in a flexible way and to maintain levels of service for the sector’s customers in business and industry.”