Ibec Concerned With Piecemeal Brexit

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

26 January 2018

The CEO of Irish business association Ibec has said that it is a fallacy to think that the UK leaving the EU customs union "will deliver massive new trade opportunities."

Danny McCoy told the UK House of Common's Brexit committee that if the UK leaves the customs union, it will "create major new administrative costs, disrupt trade flows, and put jobs at risk." However, McCoy also warned that, even if the UK were to remain in a customs union with the EU, there would be "significant problems for business" if the UK did not also commit to participating in the Single Market.

According to McCoy, the future relationship between the EU and the UK "needs to be based on the established, existing shared rules, which already support millions of jobs and communities across Europe."

McCoy also stressed that there should be no hard border on the island of Ireland, and that this is an important issue for exporters and importers, and for companies investing across both the Republic and Northern Ireland.

McCoy said that there should be "regulatory alignment across all key sectors of the all-island economy and close cooperation into the future," and that early agreement on how this can be achieved is crucial.