It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Meon Valley (Mrs Drummond), although, unlike her, I rise to support the motion, which makes some good points and suggests some policy initiatives that I am happy to support.
However, when I first read the wording, I was reminded of Sherlock Holmes and
“the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”
Fans of Conan Doyle—or of Mark Haddon’s eponymous novel—will recall that what was curious about the dog was that it failed to bark in the night while a major incident was taking place. There is a major incident taking place in the British economy that is having a significant impact on business across the UK, yet the official Opposition have omitted to mention it in the motion, which sets out to describe the reasons for the strain business is currently under. Of course, I am speaking about Brexit, which, as my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen South (Stephen Flynn) reminded us, is forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility to do twice as much damage to the UK economy as covid-19.
As we heard from another speaker, a maze of new customs bureaucracy has been imposed on business as of 1 January. Goods imported from the EU now need import declarations immediately, not six months down the line as before. Food and plant products need to be notified in advance and the tariff-free trade that the Prime Minister promised happens only if importers and exporters can prove that the goods were made substantially in the UK or the EU.
British exporters to the EU had to face all that bureaucracy last year and it has drastically damaged the seafood industry in Scotland. It has also damaged high-tech, high-value companies such as Coda Octopus in my Edinburgh South West constituency. Despite my strenuous attempts to lobby the Government, it has been forced to move its substantial business operations to the EU because of the UK Government’s post-Brexit red tape.
Problems with supply chains into the United Kingdom at the moment are not just covid-related; they are also the result of Brexit. They are affecting all sorts of businesses, from car manufacturers to supermarkets.
It is often SMEs that are hit the hardest, as we have heard from the Federation of Small Businesses and other business representatives. Businesses need Brexit support now, because otherwise they will have to abandon trade or pass costs on to already hard-pressed customers.
Ultimately, only realignment with the European Union’s single market and customs union will undo the worst impacts of Brexit. However, rather than seeking solutions, the UK Government are basically agitating over the Northern Ireland protocol. Yet Labour will not talk about it. Labour does not have a plan for what to do about Brexit. It is an abdication of its responsibility as the official Opposition not to seek to tackle the problem of Brexit in this motion on business today.
6.20 pm