We chose a review which looked reasonably fair, finding one that was fact based and supportive of the outcome proved difficult.
The Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Kemi Badenoch, wished to mark the 4th Anniversary of the UK leaving the EU. She issued a statement in early February and a related press release, explaining how successful Brexit had been.
As mentioned on Briefings for Britain, where you can see the press release, you can not see the release on most mainstream publishers. A few did comment but this tended not to be positive and we don’t wish to take sides.
Comments the statement brought from industry bodies and economists are still worth reflecting on, where they relate to UK business.
Odd Points Challenged
A honey story featured in the statement, explaining how sales to Saudi Arabia were booming. Industry representatives did however state they knew nothing of this, or any related government support for exports.
Brexit was credited with removing a major barrier to cosmetics exporters, creating £550 million of business with China over 5 years.
The chair of the British Beauty Council said this was due to China relaxing rules on animal tested products in 2021. Not Brexit related and whilst the sales were welcome, she felt they didn’t come close to Brexit losses.
References to unlocking small (in GDP terms) export opportunities were also received less than sympathetically by UK companies, such as £25 million in medicines.
An Absence Of Balance
A Cambridge University analyst pointed out that our pharmaceutical industry at one time had a £10 billion trading surplus but this is now a £5 billion deficit. The small new deals not making up for EU export losses.
Similar was voiced by bodies in other sectors, along with difficulties for their members which were due to Brexit. New regulations obliged some to open premises within the EU, or to cease exports to Europe.
A point made in several responses, accepting that large companies had often coped but smaller businesses had not. UK products once on sale in Europe have vanished from the shelves, around a quarter of businesses stopped exporting.
The government statement mentioned that the direst post Brexit predictions had not come true. Few would disagree with their point but an LSE economist suggested that pushing positives whilst ignoring negatives is not the way to help.
Reality For Business
Divorcing Brexit from politics would be helpful. Even if we wanted to, we couldn’t simply rejoin and perhaps a majority still think otherwise. The key point is that we left the EU and for the good of business, need to make this work.
As suggested by UK negotiators at the time, there are world trade rules, or other international options which can work. The ATA carnets for the EU we supply have seen temporary exports continue fairly flawlessly.
There are however areas which stifle business and could be renegotiated. Until they are, levels of financial investment, employment and profitability we might see will not be there.
The best path for business can not be built on election hyperbole, when we could review the UK’s situation on a business footing. Decisions taken on that basis need not harm anyone and could build a better future.