26 November 2017

Financial Times: An Irish border solution offers a template for post-Brexit trade

[...] This involves choices between competing ideals and specifically between controls on free movement and on the pursuit of independent global trade deals. But we must move fast before the UK crashes deal-less out of the EU. The consequences of that would be disastrous, with damage to the EU, of course, and to Ireland in particular. But by far the greatest damage will be to the jobs and wellbeing of families throughout the UK who depend on them.

I see no change since the referendum in the UK’s difficulties with immigration. With free movement remaining a core tenet of the single market, it is naive to think Britain can retain membership of that given the gap between us on this defining issue.

What we need is a pragmatic recognition of the UK’s predicament. Britain must now 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 is obvious and it defines the nature of the post-Brexit relationship that the UK actually wants to negotiate with the EU — the UK will leave the EU customs union but will participate in a new customs partnership.

There is a real opportunity for a progressive mutually beneficial post-Brexit relationship between the UK and the EU. This will enable the formation of “a new customs arrangement” allowing for continued trade of goods with a comprehensive deal for services, co-development of new global trade deals and co-operation in key areas.

With an appropriate transition phase, such principles can deliver a relationship between the UK and the EU that is effectively borderless (including in Ireland and at UK ports), free from tariff and non-tariff barriers and enabling trade in both goods and services. We also need the effective regulatory equivalence and mutual recognition of qualifications and standards that the government has already acknowledged. Regulatory alignment will protect Britain from an influx of low-quality goods that would endanger citizen safety in manufacturing and food production.

The EU already has a tailored customs arrangement with Turkey and alignment of UK tariffs with the EU’s common external tariff can enable smooth trade between us. Unlike Turkey, the scale of the UK is a real attraction to third countries as an additional partner alongside the EU27: new mutually beneficial global trade deals could in future be co-developed by both the EU and the UK in a strong post-Brexit partnership.

Including the UK as an associate member in regulatory bodies will maximise co-operation in key areas such as education, research, safety, aviation, cyber, digital and energy. We can also deliver access to EU labour for the skills that UK industries need and to UK resources for EU benefit. Central to a mutually beneficial deal will be an alternative model to the EU courts of justice for dispute settlement — just as in other EU trade deals. [...]

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