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Most UK businesses have no interest in or understanding of the government’s flagship “Brexit Freedoms” plan to scrap EU rules, according to a Boss survey.
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said nearly three-quarters of company directors were either unaware of the government’s plans or did not know the details. Across all business sectors, half of the survey of nearly 1,000 companies said deregulation was either a low priority or not a priority at all.
William Benn, head of trade policy at the BCC, which represents thousands of companies of all sizes across the country, said: “Businesses did not ask for this bill, and as our survey highlights, they are not clamoring for a bonfire of regulations. for its sake.
“They don’t want to see a departure from EU rules that make it more difficult, expensive or impossible to export their goods and services.”
Rishi Sunak’s government is under increasing pressure from business leaders, unions and political commentators to withdraw the EU retention bill, commonly known as the Brexit Independence Bill.
The plan to remove a wide range of EU laws from the British statute book was a major policy reform introduced under the short-lived premiership of Liz Truce, promoted by her business secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg.
The BCC said up to 4% of businesses have a broad understanding of the Brexit Independence Bill and its potential impact on it. When asked which rules they would keep, modify or eliminate entirely, more than half (58%) said they had no choice.
In the survey, first reported by the New Statesman, companies were also asked whether deregulation was a priority for them in the business areas of employment, health and safety, environment, planning and product safety regulations.
The results are in stark contrast to comments made by senior government figures who have suggested that sweeping regulatory changes could help UK businesses and reboot the British economy.
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, argued last week that “Brexit freedoms” could help pave the way for growth in key sectors. Comparing the plans to Nigel Lawson’s “big bang” City reforms of 1986, he told MPs on the Treasury Committee: “We have a huge Brexit opportunity to set our own rules.
“You can set long-term plans for growth industries such as life sciences, technology and green industries, which attract people to come to the UK, because we are using our Brexit freedoms to allow for a forward-looking regulatory framework. Can’t in other countries.
Business groups have previously experienced tensions between their members’ views and leadership on Brexit. Before the 2016 referendum, the then director general of the BCC, John Longworth, was suspended after suggesting Britain would be better off outside the EU despite two-thirds of members backing it. Meanwhile, JCB chairman Lord Bamford withdrew his firm’s membership of the CBI due to the lobby group’s anti-Brexit stance.
The BCC said there was little appetite among companies for UK rules to diverge significantly from EU rules, warning that too many differences would increase company costs at a time when businesses were already struggling with rising inflation and other barriers to trade with the EU. .
The UK copied EU law to formally leave the EU on 31 January 2020. Under the bill, several thousand EU laws will automatically expire at the end of 2023 unless they are reviewed, amended, renewed or repealed.
The BCC urged ministers to extend the bill’s deadline to the end of 2026 to allow more time for consultation with companies.
William Bain said: “Most importantly, businesses and government need to focus on the critical issues we face now. With a difficult 12 months ahead, we cannot afford to take away any of the resources that businesses need to stay afloat in the coming year.”
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