The UK has been urged to move swiftly to strip taxes from goods manufactured to any scale outside of the country in the event of a no-deal Brexit, in a move that could trigger an instant bonus to consumers.
Trade talks between the United Kingdom and the EU began in March, with the goal of agreeing a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) before the completion of the transition period on December 31, a deadline Boris Johnson refused to extend.
But after seven rounds of official discussions, led by Britain’s David Frost and Brussels counterpart Michel Barnier, progress has hampered, raising concerns that a no-trade agreement will be in place from January 1, 2021.
Ahead of the start of the eighth round of official talks in London, Michel Barnier initiated a stringent deadline of October 31 for a deal to be agreed so it has time to be approved in the European Parliament before the transition period deadline at the end of the year.
However, he proceeded to warn that obstinacy from the United Kingdom on a set of red lines, including fisheries, state aid and the EU’s level playing field, is raising the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.
Patrick Sullivan, chief executive of the Westminster based think tank Parliament Street, thinks the EU will make the first important move in upcoming trade talks as it frantically strives to prop up the struggling Eurozone economy.
The Eurozone’s rebound from its deepest economic downturn on record ground to a sudden halt in August, in the April to June quarter. The bloc’s market plunged 12.1 per cent as coronavirus lockdowns led to businesses being closed and people staying home.
IHS Market’s final Composite Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI), recognised as a reliable measure of economic health, dropped to a score of 51.9 per cent last month from July’s 54.9 per cent.
Mr Sullivan said the EU will blink first because if Europe has any expectation of getting its economy back on track, investment is paramount which is where the City of London comes in.
He said, only through access to London’s financial expertise can Eurozone economies become more resilient. He continued that a Brexit deal was more important to the EU and eliminating those barriers while still selling to the EU across even small tariffs, as is done by the rest of the world, could usher a new era of lower prices and heightened competition in the United Kingdom.
Yes! Slash many important taxes on things that we don’t actually produce ourselves, for example, fruit and vegetables from equatorial countries, but it has to be done in such a way that we keep onside our negotiating partners who we’re hoping to inherit current EU deals from places such as Canada and Mexico, and just bear in mind that just before last year’s election, Canada and Singapore suspended our negotiations because of this.
Fisheries, the EU wants the exact EU biased access to UK waters which still leave us with less than a third of the fishing rights and they demand the exact same access whilst telling the United Kingdom that we can’t expect the same access to trade.
EU State Aid Rules, the EU wants the United Kingdom to solicit approval from the EU if we want to bail out a UK company in need, but the EU can refuse to let the UK do so and the level playing field is, the EU doesn’t want the United Kingdom to thrive and is this part of the punishment regime they have in place?
