We, the signatories of this letter, represent businesses from across the British Technology industry and are writing to express our concerns over Brexit.

It is our view that the government’s “Withdrawal Agreement and Political Agreement on leaving the European Union” will not serve the best interests of the UK tech industry. It will vastly increase friction in trade with the EU and impose significant and costly changes for the tech industry.

We therefore believe that Members of Parliament should NOT support the agreement in the ‘meaningful vote’ and should instead vote for a new referendum, a ‘People’s Vote’, on Brexit, with the option to Remain in the EU.

The products and services produced by the UK tech industry are used by millions of people around the UK and hundreds of millions worldwide, and are helping to drive the technology of the future. We have one of the fastest-growing, most productive and export-led UK industries, worth nearly £184 billion to the UK economy, up from £170 billion in 2016. The tech sector is expanding 2.6 times faster than the rest of the UK economy, employs over 2 million people and attracts billions in foreign investment. These are the government’s own figures.

It’s also highly diverse, with more black, Asian and ethnic minority workers employed in tech than across the UK in general (15% v 10%). Some estimates put the percentage of EU workers inside the UK tech industry at over a fifth of the sector. This is a healthy and growing diversity of which we are proud.

Brexit is a dire threat to the UK tech industry. Leaving the EU’s customs union, single market, Digital Single Market, VAT area and regulatory framework (in whole or part) will tear apart the bedrock on which our industry operates and cause us grave harm.

Brexit is already causing serious uncertainty, raising costs and threatening future red tape. Post-Brexit our products and companies face the real risk of becoming hard to create, fund and distribute globally, especially in the vast market of the EU. Anecdotally, we know many of the innovative startups of the future are looking to other EU cities to relocate to, or simply bypassing the UK altogether.

With Brexit, we foresee greater problems to hiring talent (risking, over time, a UK brain drain), as well as the ‘founders of the future’ simply not arriving in the first place.

The loss of access to European funds, the loss of EU funding into breakthrough innovation such as Horizon2020, the flight of talent which powers UK tech companies due to the uncertainty around immigration, all of these factors are adversely affecting the UK Tech industry.

This is all when we should be growing our position as a British success story, and one which was, prior to Brexit, on its way to being a global leader in technology.

Now that we know what the ‘Brexit options’ look like, it is critical to find a way out of this mess. We therefore ask you to support a ‘final say’ on Brexit with a ‘People’s Vote’ referendum (with the option to remain in the EU) to allow our industry, our customers and the country a say on the final Brexit outcome.

Signed

The UK Tech Industry

(Drafted by TechForUK.com and BestForBritain.org)

Add your signature

If you represent a business from across the British Technology industry add your signature:

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Other action you can take

• Write to your MP: https://www.bestforbritain.org/demand_your_vote

• Find out what Britain thinks: https://notbuyingbrexit.co.uk

• Send an audio message to your MP: https://www.finalsay.app

• Find out what the EU has done for your local area: https://www.myeu.uk

• Join Tech For UK: https://join.techforuk.com

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