Lack of clarity in the Brexit White Paper is a “cause for concern” as the end of the Article 50 process approaches, the British Property Federation has said in its response to the document published yesterday.
Although the BPF said it welcomes the Brexit White Paper and its “general approach”, it raised concerns over gaps in detail in what the government has proposed.
In particular, it said plans for a free trade area for goods offer benefits to certain sectors, such as industrial occupiers and retailers transporting goods to and from the continent. Services, however, are not included in plans for a free trade area. The BPF said it is often difficult to separate trade in goods from trade in services, including in maintenance contracts and guarantees, and there is no clarity in the White Paper on how those blended trades will be treated.
It added that there appears to be a “precarious solution” for financial services, which requires a stronger commitment to ensuring short- and long-term certainty.
On immigration, the BPF said that although there is an aspiration to ensure highly skilled workers and students can move to the UK, the absence of continued access to construction site workers from the continent will put more pressure on the sector.
However, the BPF welcomed the White Paper’s proposals to retain existing EU environmental and employment regulations, which it said would avoid Brexit becoming a “regulatory bonfire.”
Patrick Brown, head of insights and EU engagement at BPF, said: “The government has had an unenviable task in satisfying an array of demands, but the key test will be how it is received by the lead negotiators for the EU institutions and the other member states.
“The tone and general approach is right, nevertheless there remain gaps in the detail that give us cause for concern given the time left on the clock for the Article 50 process.”
© Pic: Ben Cawthra/REX/Shutterstock
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