Brexit Business
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 25 February 2021
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Britain's transition period with the EU ended on December 31st. For the first time since the inception of the single market in 1992, British companies were on the outside. A trade agreement was reached meaning that no tariffs would be paid on imports or exports, but it did mean that trade would no longer be entirely friction free. It’s still early days, but what do we now know about the extent of that friction and its possible consequences? How representative are the frustrations of Cornwall’s daffodil growers who say they can’t find labourers or UK companies that are now setting up production facilities in the EU in order to avoid red tape and its cost? To what extent have difficulties been mitigated by new trade deals that the UK is now free to negotiate. And what’s the view from the EU?
With Peter Foster of the Financial Times; Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform; Vandeline von Bredow of The Economist; and Maddy Thimont Jack of the Institute for Government.
Producers: Tim Mansel, Sally Abrahams, Kirsteen Knight Editor Jasper Corbett
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.3 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David O'ronovich. |
| 0:10.2 | In the briefing room, we have just under half an hour to find out about an important issue |
| 0:14.2 | of the day from the top experts. |
| 0:16.8 | In this edition, it's two months since Britain finally uncoupled from the European Union's single market. |
| 0:23.1 | So how's it going so far? |
| 0:24.8 | The businesses in Britain and in the EU. |
| 0:36.6 | The UK's transition period with the EU came to an end nearly two months ago. |
| 0:42.3 | Now we're outside the single market and trading under new terms. |
| 0:47.4 | We hear all kinds of stories. |
| 0:50.4 | But how is it actually going? |
| 0:52.3 | And however it's going now, is that how it will always go? |
| 0:56.8 | Is there any room for change? Step into the briefing room and together we'll find out. |
| 1:05.0 | Let's start with the impact since January the first on British businesses. |
| 1:09.8 | Peter Foster is the public policy editor and author of |
| 1:12.8 | the Brexit briefing at the Financial Times, and he joins me now in the briefing room. Peter |
| 1:17.6 | Foster, you've been talking to quite a few businesses. Now, what is the picture you're getting from |
| 1:22.5 | them about their experiences? The picture from most of the businesses is a difficulty simply in adjusting to a deal |
| 1:30.1 | that was done in December, very late, as you know, and essentially turns the clock back to |
| 1:36.8 | 1990 to the days before the single market and applies rest of world trade processes to trade |
| 1:43.8 | with Europe that previously was just done |
| 1:46.1 | very quickly and very easily. So what we've seen across the piece is business struggling to |
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