(Caveat: these benefits sit alongside an array of negative consequences in the form of worse access and higher costs of doing business with the EU. But if you follow @Brexit, you knew that already. So let's focus on potential positives...) 2/
(Also: it would be helpful if the govt did a better job of pointing out concrete, real-world examples of Brexit gains that go beyond rhetorical flourishes and are undisputed wins only possible outside the EU. This took a fair amount of leg work. End of preamble!) 3/
Rules & Taxes -- the U.K. could go for a more growth-friendly regulatory and tax environment. The EU fears a near-shore competitor of this type, says Mark Price, former deputy chairman of John Lewis 4/
Plus it could take a more permissive approach than the EU on emerging technologies, like GM foods and genome technology, says @julianHjessop. In aviation, the UK would be free to cut air passenger duty on return leg of domestic flights (h/t @charlie_ryan1) 5/
Financial services -- Insurers will be outside Solvency II rules, so they may soon be able to invest in a wider range of assets and take on more risk, says @BritishInsurers. And IPO market could get a boost if EU's 8m euro ceiling on retail investor participation is scrapped 6/
Trade deals -- the UK says it can sign FTAs that better suit its interests. Clearest win so far = easier access for data and financial services in the Japan accord 7/
A trade deal with the U.S. could create opportunities for U.K. services companies, and may bring greater variety and cheaper food if Britain accepts agricultural products as part of any agreement 8/ bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Tariff policy -- the UK can set its own WTO tariffs, and can cut duties on products that aren't important for British industry, which would benefit consumers. Heck, they could even unilaterally cut tariffs on soy sauce... 9/
Fishing -- whatever happens in the EU talks, British fishermen are likely to increase their catch. Though only a small part of the economy (0.12%), Iceland shows a model of how the industry could grow.. 10/ bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Domestic industry -- risk in EU supply chains because of new red tape and border delays may encourage manufacturers to source more inputs locally, says Andrew Underwood at @kpmguk. And new state aid freedoms could help Johnson `level up' poorer parts of Britain 11/
Red tape -- Brexit creates a structural opportunity for customs brokers and logistics specialists. There's an awful lot of bureaucracy due to Brexit, hundreds of millions of customs declarations annually, and someone's going to get paid to handle it 12/ bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
You'll notice there's a lot of `may' and 'could' in all this - much depends on what the U.K. actually does with the powers it regains from the EU. And the choices won't happen in a vacuum - other countries will respond, there will be downsides... 13/
For example - having the ability to set your own rules also means companies potentially have to comply with two sets of regulations -- UK and EU -- to operate in both markets. Which means duplicate costs, bureaucratic headache.. 14/ bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
And being able to sign your own trade deals is good. But the UK was already part of many deals through EU membership, and economists don't think the new agreements will compensate for losses from leaving the bloc 15/
Scoop: British bike makers face a wave of cheap Chinese imports after Brexit, as EU anti-dumping rules are dropped by the U.K. 1/ bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Brompton Bicycles is among the companies in the firing line, as DIT has decided not to maintain the EU's tariffs of up to 48.5% on bikes coming in from China. The levy was introduced in response to large state support by China to its manufacturers 2/ eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
Post-Brexit, the UK has control of its trade defence policy. It says it will only maintain EU anti-dumping rules if domestic producers make up more than 1% of the local market for a good. They say British bikes failed on this metric 3/ gov.uk/guidance/trade…
Exclusive: Key software to keep goods moving after Brexit won't be ready in time, developers warn 1/ bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
The Association of Freight Software Suppliers, whose members connect businesses to the government's customs systems, says they haven't been given enough time and information to develop their IT products. They're urging HMRC to ready contingency plans 2/
And even if they did have the information, AFSS says it'd be too late to train businesses on the software. Plus many companies put a freeze on installing new systems in December and January anyway, the group says 3/
The basics: goods moving GB to NI will need new paperwork. This is because the UK agreed to uphold the integrity of the EU customs territory, and didn't want a border on the island of Ireland. This is the govt's own guidance on the NI protocol 2/ gov.uk/government/pub…
And the government has kindly thrown money at the issue, in a bid to help companies. It'd be strange to spend money on processes that don't exist 3/ bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Boris Johnson is willing to risk a no-deal split over fishing rights. But the industry only accounts for 0.1% of the U.K. economy bloomberg.com/news/features/… via @bpolitics 1/
Great read by Chris Jasper, which captures the two sides of the fishing equation. Brexit means catching more fish, but risks access to lucrative EU export markets. Plus, large corporations own the catching rights.. 2/
And plenty of cracking quotes from fishermen. Warnings of the French kicking off, too much value being spirited away to the continent, plus views of a veteran from the Cod Wars with Iceland. Quite the attribution 3/
Liz Truss says signing the Japan deal `proves the naysayers wrong'. The government's initial impact assessment said it will boost U.K. GDP by 0.07% compared to 2018 levels over the next 15 years 1/ bloomberg.com/news/articles/… via @bpolitics
We're waiting to see the full text of the agreement. The government says it goes further than the EU-Japan deal - which the U.K. benefited from as an EU member - in areas such as `digital and data', and more geographical indicator protections for food 2/
We're also awaiting a new impact assessment of the deal. DIT is frustrated by the rather meagre predicted gains of these trade deals, which are outweighed by the harms of leaving the EU's single market and customs union, on the government's own analysis 3/
Scoop: Tesla and Heinz are among the household names facing a Brexit crisis at year-end due to a shortage of customs agents in the U.K. 1/ bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Both companies have struggled to find contractors who can process their post-Brexit paperwork, with the economy facing hundreds of millions of extra customs declarations annually 2/ bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Without a solution, they won't be able to legally move goods between Britain and the EU from 2021, even if there's a free-trade deal. Here's Heinz's statement 3/