Warning issued over trade 


The Unite union has warned that the government’s revelation that frictionless trade will cease at the end of this year, will place “jobs on the line”.


The disclosure by cabinet minister Michael Gove that frictionless trade with the European Union will cease at the end of this year came on the same day last month the government also announced it wanted to create up to 10 free ports.


Labour has warned that the free ports will used by the super-rich to hoard assets and avoid taxes. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell described the ports as simply a revival of a failed Thatcherite plan designed to cut away at regulation and the country’s tax base.


Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner agreed, saying there is “very little solid evidence” that so-called free ports create jobs or boost economic growth.


“This plan only represents a ‘levelling-up’ for the super-rich, who will use free ports to hoard assets and avoid taxes while the rest of us feel the effects of under-funded public services,” he said. And Turner warned that after each of the government’s “piecemeal announcements” thousands of jobs are being put on the line, investment is moving away and whole industries are losing confidence in their ability to remain competitive.


He added that it was simply untrue to say business has had plenty of time to prepare for a post-Brexit world when the government has kept moving the goalposts on what that world will look like.


https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/10/checks-on-eu-bound-goods-inevitable-gove-tells-business-leaders

https://unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2020/february/ending-frictionless-trade-puts-jobs-on-the-line-warns-unite