British firms are urging ministers to push for an extension to the 21-month transition period agreed last week, claiming they need three-to-five years to properly prepare for Brexit.

 

Three chambers – the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce (GMCC) and Business West – will publish a joint report and host a drinks reception in parliament today to make the case for businesses who are “deeply worried” about the costs of Brexit and the amount of time left to get their ducks in a row.

 

The extended period they put forward would be “a reasonable period for transition”, allowing smaller firms in particular to roll with such challenges as new tariffs, non-tariff barriers, recruit and train new staff, and get hard and software in place.

 

The report, written by CEBR and commissioned by the three chambers, examined the likely financial impact of the Norway, Canada + and WTO trade models on business notably concluding that more research was urgently needed to understand the impact outside of London.

 

Vicky Pryce, chief economic Adviser at CEBR, said: “We found a limited amount of readily available post referendum regional data to make a thorough assessment of the impact of the potential scenarios on metropolitan areas – that itself is food for thought”.

 

The three chambers argue that three-to-five years

 

Colin Stanbridge, chief executive of LCCI said: “The long Brexit process has been debilitating to firms’ resilience. Now we have a transition period of 21 months – or 90 weeks – that may not give many small to medium firms’ adequate time to plan and prepare for a potential cliff edge on New Year’s Eve 2020. From where we stand, the proposed transition period looks unrelated to business needs – that is a real worry”.

 

 

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