NI businesses scolded over Brexit no-deal preparation

Two Brexit-supporting Conservative MPs have scolded Northern Ireland businesses for not doing enough contingency planning for a no-deal.

The comments from Peter Bone and Christopher Chope came as business groups gave evidence to a Westminster committee.

“Nobody’s ever given any guarantee that there would be a deal,” Mr Chope said.

“Why is it that none of you seem to have been making any contingency plans for no-deal?”

Mr Bone added: “You’ve known we’ve been coming out of the EU since June 2016 and now you’re just waking up with five minutes to go that there might not be a deal.

“You’ve not done a pretty good job have you?”

Declan Billington, chair of the NI Food and Drink Association, said his industry produced a paper two years ago identifying threats and opportunities from Brexit.

He said the major opportunity was to develop new markets and he “spent a lot of time two years ago canvassing those people who could create the policy” to open new markets.

However, he said government was not “geared up” for this and two years on the policy framework is still not in place.

He also explained that for all-Ireland dairy companies who have their processing facilities in the Republic of Ireland, the only workable no-deal contingency was to build factories in Northern Ireland.

He said that would involve spending up to £60m and “so if there is a deal they’ve just wasted 60m. That’s the challenge they’re facing.”

Stephen Kelly, from Manufacturing NI, invited Mr Chope to look at the official no deal technical notices and “judge for yourself the advice government has been sending out to Northern Ireland businesses”.

Earlier, Queens University Brexit expert Katy Hayward suggested that the “backstop” would not be a threat to the constitutional integrity of the UK.

The backstop is an arrangement which will apply if the Irish border cannot be kept as frictionless as it is now in the context of a wider deal.

The EU has proposed a backstop that would mean Northern Ireland staying in the EU Customs Union, large parts of the single market and the EU VAT system.

Dr Hayward said there cannot be a change to Northern Ireland’s constitutional place in the UK unless a majority of people in Northern Ireland vote for it.

The DUP’s Sammy Wilson said that if laws applying to Northern Ireland were made in Brussels that would be tantamount to constitutional change.

Dr Hayward said Northern Ireland was already differentiated from the rest of the UK but the backstop did raise questions about the governance of Northern Ireland.

She suggested that a “specialised committee” for Northern Ireland, which is described in the draft withdrawal agreement, could in the future have a role in representing Northern Ireland’s interests to the EU.

She said this could involve a “decision shaping” or observer role which would be a unique for a sub-state region.

Research published by the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday suggested almost 1 in 3 of its members have sought advice on Brexit.

This was more prevalent among larger firms with 40% of medium/large firms seeking advice compared to 27% small and 21% micro.

The most common source of advice was from an accountant, solicitor or other private business adviser (13%), followed by a government department or agency (12%).

Of those who have not sought advice, this is largely because of the uncertainty around Brexit and waiting to see what the final shape of the Brexit deal look like.