UK fast track entry to WTO blocked

Can you point me to that guidance? That would be hugely useful. I've spent most of the day trying to find business guidance based on worst case scenarios. And suggestions vary. Worst case scenario of absolutely nothing in place at all with a hard Brexit and EU WTO membership voided, to some transitional arrangement, but i've not found any detail.

I was at an event the other day with 29 fellow business owners. A sharing exercise more than anything. The outcome was that most didn't have a clue what to plan for, where to go for guidance, know fully what timings would be involved and what superiority would be given to which rules and arrangements. Don't get me wrong, I've been extremely worried since the vote, and nothing since then has appeased that concern, quite the opposite. Sitting in a room of small and microbusiness owners highlights the worries that are currently ongoing across business and will impact on employment. The nearest thing I can compare it to is what happened in 2008 when hatches were clasped shut. It's just that people are starting to prepare for that fall out in advance, rather than as a last moment knee jerk of self preservation.

 

I've read the full article. The DUP have blocked a hard border. Any hard border is a red line. Checks at a border is a hard border. The revenue commissioners aren't the lead politicians. The British government, nor the EU would be content with a hard border. That's been echoed in all dialogue constantly. Varadkar may be taking a particular stance, but a hard border is a hard border.

 

It's a while since I read it...leave it with me and I'll try and find the article...it was saying that the 10 year ( I think) rule was a safety net to give some breathing space, as often objections can be largely unrelated to a particular case, but are levers for other issues a country has.

 

The EU though have already worked up the electronic solution, despite M. Barnier describing the proposal as 'magical thinking' .

 

Cheers muchly. You'd hope there would be some mechanism for a shifting membership, but I can also understand that if the worst Brexit occurred, we're effectively throwing away all agreements and forsaking the umbrella of all EU agreements and legislations. There really isn't much precedent for whats happening, and that is only increasing uncertainty and uncertainty is seldom a positive thing for an economy and its workforce.

Speaking of which... I better do some of that work stuff and continue strategizing and planning for the apocalypse!

 

Haha ...me too.
I think there are precedents that the WTO have worked plans out for, that the EU haven't. To be fair to the EU it's hardly surprising as no-one expected a Member State to leave, Lord Kerr who authored article 50, more or less said it was a clause they didn't invest a lot of time in bearing in mind it was not envisaged it would ever be used.

 

I was with a couple of fairly large haulage firms yesterday who do a lot of work abroad into Europe, they also said they had no idea what impact it would have in terms of business or actual borders etc.
Interestingly though what they did say was the French will not allow huge queues due to the immigration issues around ports(they also said the French were taking down traffic lights so vehicles wouldn’t stop).

 

I've worked and have colleagues at some of the biggest companies in the UK (a few of them global) and they haven't got a f'cking clue what's happening either, so don't feel like it's micro businesses it's the whole lot and a complete shambles.

 

Car manufacturers don't make any money on producing vehicles as it is, less so if we get tariffs like this. It will be a massive blow if the car industry falls apart at the fault of Brexit.

 

Technically, without a deal it is illegal for any holder of a UK driving licence (look at the image on the top left corner of the photocard) to drive in the EU, they will therefore also have no insurance. I have also heard that there are a limited number of licences available for 3rd country HGV drivers to drive into or through the EU (3,000 was the number I heard), and there is no appetite to increase that allocation in the event of no deal.

In theory, we could have a situation where UK-based companies have to hire EU-licence holding drivers (usually EU born) to transport goods to/from the continent - or at least from customs outwards making them more employable than UK-born long-distance drivers. A similar situation to what we are seeing in some services industries already.

 

The favoured economist of Brexiteers, Patrick Minford, predicts that Brexit will destroy manufacturing and farming within the UK (except for one specific type of farming - might be sheep or pig)...

 

I think the issue with Nissan is that the plant only carries enough spares for half a day's production. If the resources they need are going to be subject to customs checks then their whole supply chain operation needs to be revisited. Nissan are now part of a wider group and Renault own 43% of them and will no doubt be fancying bringing work over to mainland Europe from Sunderland. Jaguar Landrover opening a plant in Eastern Europe and closing UK manufacturing down for a short period in the aftermath of Brexit.

 

Lol, that’s got to be one of the best claims yet about Brexit, right up with there gonna stop trains under the channel!

In theory it could happen, but all you need is an international driving permit, which you can get the same day, so hardly a big issue.

 

It's all well and good talking about economic oblivion but when do we get rid of all the bloody foreigners?

 

Aye who cares whether we starve as long as the ethnic cleansers leave the car washes.

 

That was my understanding too. It will more or less kill exports, all exports, why buy from us when you can get the same product much cheaper from elsewhere, which will cost hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs, while inflation rates will instantly jump to about 10% maybe higher.

 

You can still get an international Driving Licence.

 

We need these people Jim - who else will wash the cars!?