2017-11-28 20:30
The UK’s automotive industry has called on the Government to speed up the Brexit ‘transition period’ negotiations in order to guarantee growth and productivity.
Tony Walker, president of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), said a no-deal Brexit represents “a real threat” to the UK automotive sector – an industry that directly employs 169,000 people and accounts for 13 per cent of the UK’s export goods.
The Government has agreed to negotiate a transition period between the Brexit deadline and the UK’s departure from the EU, but the SMMT says this needs faster, more concrete progress.
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Were the UK to leave the EU without a deal, at least £4.5 billion would be added to UK automotive industry overheads due to World Trade Organisation (WTO) tariffs.
Addressing the audience at the 101st SMMT annual dinner, Walker highlighted membership of the EU currently means the majority of the 1,100 lorries and trucks that enter the UK every day from the continent to supply car plants and factories are able to do so through frictionless borders without customs checks.
Walker said that: “After all the difficulties we have overcome, all the changes we have made and the innovations we have brought, we do not need trade barriers to be our next challenge.” He said while the Government recognised the need for a post-Brexit transition period, “we need to see concrete progress – and quickly”, adding the transition period “should be on the current terms and, crucially, not time-limited” in order for the industry to adjust and secure investment decisions.
Turning to recent controversy over diesel emissions, Walker explained that: “Consumer confidence has fallen leading to a downturn in sales. Uncertainty about Brexit – and market confusion over diesel – are taking their toll.”
The SMMT president said the automotive industry has “invested billions of pounds in clean, low emission technologies” and that “the latest Euro 6 vehicles…should not be unfairly penalised in Government plans.”
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