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'Let's get going': UK tells businesses to prepare for Brexit crunch

Published 12/07/2020, 22:38
Updated 13/07/2020, 11:46
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: EU flag are placed on broken glass and British flag in this illustration picture taken

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: EU flag are placed on broken glass and British flag in this illustration picture taken

By Paul Sandle

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is urging businesses and individuals to prepare for the Dec. 31 end of the Brexit transition period with an information campaign titled: "The UK's new start: let's get going."

Britain left the European Union on Jan. 31, three and a half years after a referendum, but a transition period has delayed any major change in the relationship.

The two sides have been working to agree a trade deal ahead of that period expiring at the end of the year.

Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said on Sunday progress was being made in talks but there were still divisions.

"At the end of this year we are leaving the single market and Customs Union regardless of the type of agreement we reach with the EU," he said. "This will bring changes and significant opportunities for which we all need to prepare."

The information campaign will launch on Monday, the government said, with ads appearing on TV, radio, billboards and online.

A survey from lobby group the Institute of Directors (IoD) said only a quarter of companies were fully ready for the end of the transition period.

Nearly half of 978 company directors polled in late June said they were not able to prepare right now, with one in seven distracted by the coronavirus and almost a third saying they needed details of changes to be clear, the IoD said.

"With so much going on, many directors feel that preparing for Brexit proper is like trying to hit a moving target," said IoD Director General Jonathan Geldart. "Jumping immediately into whatever comes next would be a nightmare for many businesses."

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: EU flag are placed on broken glass and British flag in this illustration picture taken

The campaign targets Britons intending to travel to the EU from Jan. 1, importers and exporters, UK nationals abroad, and EU, European Economic Area and Swiss nationals living in Britain.

Latest comments

Britain following GermanyThe UK is following the example of Germany, where a programme allowing the arrival of 80,000 migrant workers over the course of two months has been under way since April 2. ACS has already operated a total of 13 flights in the past three weeks, five of which have been in the past couple of days, carrying a total of 18,740 workers from Romania and Bulgaria to Germany, says Phillips.
Time was you couldn’t move for Brits in Germany. Young British men came to Germany in the tens of thousands. Then in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as work for British labourers and tradesmen evaporated with the collapse of British industry, another wave arrived: the migrant worker. - brexit may not repeat its history of becoming themselves immigrants again to other eu countries
One of the talking points of the Brexit campaign was that too many EU workers were coming into the UK to work and that this should be stopped. Yet, this rhetoric left something out: it wasn’t that long ago, that hundreds of thousands of British construction workers were working in Germany.In the 1980s and 1990s, when the UK was in the middle of a hard recession, thousands of British workers went abroad to try to earn some money. Their preferred destination was Germany, where they ended up significantly undercutting the local wages.I ran across this newspaper article from 1993, which perfectly illustrates the situation: “Postcard from a Berlin building site: To escape the UK recession workers are pricing themselves into a job and out of the protection of the law, reports Steve Boggan”.„get brexit done“
The EU may end EEA and EFTA - meaning all countries such as Norway and Switzerland will have to join the EU when the UK finally leaves end of the year. Without a free trade agreement reached - Scotland will certainly want to join the EU - likewise Northern Ireland joining the Republic of Ireland enabling its country be part of the EU membership. The departure of the UK may good or maybe not a very good idea. Can‘t say for Wales-
great opportunities will come from this specially for bankruptcies...
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