UK sets out vision for ‘frictionless’ trade after Brexit

The government has finally published its detailed proposals for the future trading relationship between the UK and the European Union which, it says, would preserve the UK’s and the EU’s frictionless access to each other’s markets for goods.

It proposes a free trade area that would “protect the uniquely integrated supply chains and ‘just-in-time’ processes that have developed across the UK and the EU over the last 40 years, and the jobs and livelihoods dependent on them, ensuring businesses on both sides can continue operating through their current value and supply chains.

Prime minister Theresa May said this approach would also “meet our shared commitments to Northern Ireland and Ireland through the overall future relationship, in a way that respects the EU’s autonomy without harming the UK’s constitutional and economic integrity.”

The white paper entitled “The future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union” sets out a plan for a common rulebook for goods including agri-food, covering only those rules necessary to provide for frictionless trade at the border – meaning that the UK would make an upfront choice to commit by treaty to ongoing harmonisation with the relevant EU rules, with all those rules legislated for by Parliament or the devolved legislatures.

It would also include participation by the UK in those EU agencies that provide authorisations for goods in highly regulated sectors – namely the European Chemicals Agency, the European Aviation Safety Agency, and the European Medicines Agency – accepting the rules of these agencies and contributing to their costs, under new arrangements that recognise the UK will not be a Member State;

There would be a phased introduction of a new Facilitated Customs Arrangement that would remove the need for customs checks and controls between the UK and the EU as if they were a combined customs territory, which would enable the UK to control its own tariffs for trade with the rest of the world and ensure businesses paid the right or no tariff, becoming operational in stages as both sides complete the necessary preparations.

It said that in combination with no tariffs on any goods, these arrangements would avoid any new friction at the border, and protect the integrated supply chains that span the UK and the EU, safeguarding the jobs and livelihoods they support.

There would also be new arrangements on services and digital as well as new economic and regulatory arrangements for financial services.

The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier responded to publication of the white paper with a tweet: “We will now analyse the Brexit White Paper w/ Member States & EP, in light of EUCO guidelines. EU offer = ambitious FTA + effective cooperation on wide range of issues, including a strong security partnership. Looking forward to negotiations with the UK next week.”