Business bosses give cautious welcome to 11th hour Brexit trade deal but warn there is more work to do

Business leaders gave a cautious welcome to the long awaited agreement on a post-Brexit trade deal but warned there were still many hurdles ahead.

Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of business group London First, said: “There will be sighs of relief all round that the Government has finally done what it set out to do, and agreed a future trade deal with the EU.

“With a deal in place, firms can focus on making it through the pandemic and safeguarding jobs, in the knowledge that they won’t suddenly be cut off from our biggest trading partner.”

Business want the first priority to make sure that trade disruption is kept to a minimum when the Brexit transition period ends in a week’s time.

Tony Danker, director general of the employers group the CBI, said: “"Firms will immediately study the details, when they can, to understand the implications for their companies, customers and clients but immediate guidance from government is required across all sectors.

"Above all, we need urgent confirmation of grace periods to smooth the cliff edge on everything from data to rules of origin and we need to ensure we keep goods moving across borders.

“Coming so late in the day, it is vital that both sides take instant steps to keep trade moving and services flowing.”

The deal should ensure that imports and exports of food, medicines and vital parts for industries such as car manufacturing, should be able to flow relatively freely in the New Year.

However, that will depend on the backlog of trucks caused by the temporary closure of Dover following the discovery of the new strain of Covid-19 being cleared by then.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: “The UK and EU Governments have taken a crucially important step in agreeing a zero-tariff agreement, to the benefit of customers all over Europe. They must now work to implement this new arrangement as soon as possible, ensuring there are no tariffs from Day 1, and finding new ways to reduce the checks and red tape that we’ll see from the 1st January. The BRC and the rest of the retail industry will be scrutinising the terms of this deal in the coming days.”

Richard Burge, chief executive of London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said:  “Whilst some changes from January 1 have been known, others have not and businesses will need to work their way through the detail of the deal and ascertain where the real-term impacts of Brexit may lay for them, their supply chains and customers.