WE are nearly one year on now from the Brexit vote but, it seems, no further forward.
Adam Marshall, director-general of British Chambers of Commerce, yesterday summed up in a nutshell the huge and myriad uncertainties facing businesses, as Brexit talks began between the UK and European Union.
These are uncertainties that are, for all the initial euphoria of the Brexiters and tough talk since from the Conservatives, still as great as they were at the time of the UK electorate’s Leave vote.
Mr Marshall said: “Over the coming weeks and months, the UK Government must demonstrate how it is working to address the everyday considerations of British companies in the talks - who can they hire, whether their goods will be stopped at borders, and whether they will have to cope with extra costs.”
These are very big issues indeed. They affect businesses of all sizes, located all over the UK and operating across a huge range of sectors.
Offering a starting point, with a clarity so far not evident from the Conservatives as they have bumbled their way through the post-Brexit vote mess, Mr Marshall said: “Parties on both sides should begin the negotiations by seeking to guarantee the rights of EU citizens already in the UK, and UK citizens in the EU-27 [bloc].”
This would certainly be a good start. However, even if it were achieved, it would be only a small step on the very long and complex, not to mention unnecessary, journey towards Brexit.
The clock is ticking loudly on the two-year negotiating phase, following the triggering of Article 50 in late March. The longer the ticking is accompanied by a shambolic UK Government response, the more fragile already-weak business confidence will become.
It would be really good to see some economic damage limitation from Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis, and his colleagues, before too much more time passes.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel