How to make Brexit work for All

Big Principles for a Strong Brexit Partnership: A Business Solution for a Political Dilemma

Suppose you fall out with your Golf Club. You’ve decided you just don’t get on with the Committee any more. You tell the Club Secretary you’ve had enough of the rules, you’re leaving and you won’t be paying your fees any longer. Oh and by the way, you’d still like to play every Saturday at 10am...

The UK has an entirely democratic right to Leave the EU. But no matter how valued its Membership, it’s hard to expect the EU and its 27 other Member States to respond proactively to the UK’s request to stay engaged without having yet had a consistent proposal of exactly how.    

Today the British Irish Chamber of Commerce, the trade organisation of which I am Director General, publishes a short set of key principles to break the deadlock between the UK and the EU. The Chamber’s “Big Principles for a Strong Brexit Partnership” (www.britishirishchamber.com) set out a new narrative respecting both the outcome of the UK referendum in support of some form of Brexit and equally the EU's reasonable need to understand exactly what kind of Brexit we want. The Big Principles provide a template capable of agreement and execution by all and all need to engage on it rapidly before the UK crashes deal-less out of the EU. The consequences of that would be disastrous, with by far the greatest damage being to the local jobs and wellbeing of families who depend on them throughout the UK. But the EU will be seriously damaged too by the loss of its second largest Member State and the world’s sixth largest economy. Given our exceptional connectedness, East/West as well as North/South, Ireland will be exceptionally impacted, deeply wounding a set of relationships that has delivered both peace and prosperity for decades. We have to stop this happening, now.

Avoiding collapse of talks in December urgently needs a credible solution for the Irish border and this needs to fit within established rules to be taken seriously. After prolonged talks about talks, the Big Principles published today give the UK and EU a clear strawman to negotiate before time runs out for both. Like any strawman, Big Principles involve choices between competing ideals and specifically between controls on Free Movement and on independent Global Trade Deals. On the latter, we should ask ourselves exactly which country (that's worth any money) does the UK government want to independently trade with that it doesn’t already, or soon will, through membership of the EU? Let's get real here - if there was any other country that offers the UK a better economic partnership, the UK would already be seriously negotiating it.

At the other end of the agenda, in the seventeen months since the Referendum there has been no discussion (or evidence of any changed view) of the UK's difficulties with immigration. With Free Movement of People a core tenet of the EU Single Market, it's naive to think the UK will retain membership of this, given the gap between us on this defining issue.

While the status quo would be best, what's set out today in the Big Principles initiative is a pragmatic recognition of the UK's genuine predicament. The UK now has to clearly choose whether control over free movement is more important to it than freedom to trade with some un-named low-value countries. The answer to that is obvious and it consequently defines the nature of the post-Brexit relationship that the UK actually wants to negotiate with the EU - the UK will leave The Customs Union of the European Union but will participate with the EU in A New Customs Partnership.       

The Big Principles are founded on the opportunity of a new post-Brexit Partnership between the United Kingdom and the European Union. This will enable formation of "a new Customs Arrangement” between both that will allow for continued trade of goods with a comprehensive deal for services, co-development of new trade deals and rational cooperation in key areas. The EU already has a limited bilateral customs arrangement with Turkey which both sides are already preparing to strengthen. Given the globally significant scale of the UK, not only can we build on the Turkey template, it also makes sense to include the UK in any future trade deals agreed by the EU given the UK's attraction to third countries alongside the EU 27.

Necessarily starting at high level and inevitably needing a transition phase of as long as it takes - or as fast as can be achieved - for the detailed implementation work, the Big Principles of what is proposed are designed to deliver-

·        A trade relationship between the UK and the EU that is effectively borderless (including in Ireland and at UK ports) and free from tariff and non-tariff barriers and enabling trade in both goods and services;

·        Effective regulatory equivalence and mutual recognition of qualifications and standards with the UK as an associate member in regulatory bodies for closest cooperation in areas such as education, research, safety, aviation, cyber, digital and energy;

·        An alignment of the UK’s tariffs with the established Common External Tariff and continued regulatory alignment to protect the UK from an influx of cheaper, lower quality goods which would endanger citizen safety in manufacturing and food production;

·        A solution to the island of Ireland Border issue and protection of the Good Friday Agreement;

·        The ability for the UK to pursue its own migration policy, giving UK business access to EU labour for the skills that UK jobs need and giving the EU access to UK resources for EU benefit;

·        A pathway to stronger collective pursuit of new global trade deals that are mutually beneficial;

·        An alternative model to the CJEU for dispute settlement, just as in other EU trade deals.

Many if not all of these elements have been variously hinted at in various UK discussion documents: what has been missing is the aggregating of them into a template that breaks the critical deadlock on Northern Ireland’s border and goes on to solve all of the key issues with the least compromise for either the UK or the EU.

With investment in the UK already slowing, the weakened pound already raising UK prices and key talent already leaving the UK well before any Brexit, a hard Brexit will be disastrous for all and inexcusable for those who permit it. Founded equally on democratic respect and common sense, these constructive Principles will be better for growth and for the future of Europe, the UK and Ireland. It’s time to stop the shadow boxing and support all sides to commit to these Principles or prove to us why they won't deliver a better future for all those they represent.