In accepting our report’s recommendations 1 and 4, the Welsh Government reiterates its position “that we must maintain full and unfettered access to the Single Market and we remain to be convinced that being outside a Customs Union with the EU is in our interests, at least for the foreseeable future”.
However, as we heard from policy think tank ‘Open Europe’ in Brussels, “it would be strange if the UK was in the Customs Union. Like Turkey, the EU would negotiate trade agreements with third parties without the UK at the table”.
As they also said, “If the UK is in the Single Market, it would have to accept all the rules without being able to vote on them”.
And as the UK’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the EU told us, “The EU 27 Governments now have a better understanding of where their own economic interests, and those of their own sectors, lie, regarding access to the UK market”.
We therefore need a special and different solution, rather than something done before.
It is in our mutual interest to get this right, where, for instance, the Representation of the German State of Bremen told us that 10-15% of the GDP of Germany’s 16 states is exposed to the UK market.
The Canadian Embassy told us that 70% of their cross border trade with the USA is carried by trucks, with security clearance programmes for trucks and drivers, and an ‘eManifest’ programme for goods, delivering a “very efficient and speedy system”.
Turkey has a Customs Union agreement with the EU, whilst remaining outside the EU.
Switzerland is neither in the Single Market nor the Customs Union, yet Turkey’s frontier is far more heavily policed than the Swiss one.
In fact, 10 times as people many travel between Switzerland and the EU as do between Ireland and the UK.
Switzerland’s border is crossed by around 2.4 million people every day.
Switzerland sells more than 5 times as much per head to the EU than Britain.
The European Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee commissioned a report “Smart Border 2.0 – Avoiding a Hard Border on the island of Ireland for Customs Control and the Free Movement of Persons” from the former director of the World Customs Organisation, Lars Karlsson – who has visited 169 countries, worked in more than 120 of them and seen more than 700 borders.
Published last November, this proposes a Customs Cooperation model, combining advanced data exchange and new technical components, including a new trusted trader programme, a new trusted traveller scheme and a different approach to security and safety.
He said that “delivering almost frictionless borders is real, not science-fiction for the future”, and that “we are not talking of massive infrastructure, like houses and border crossings”.
He also said “that a new generation of SMART borders after Brexit would give Britain an extra advantage” on the world stage and make the UK a “very attractive trading partner”.
In accepting our recommendation 2, the Welsh Government states that it is “working with the UK Government to protect Wales’ international reputation for high animal welfare, environmental and food standards, which must not be sacrificed through allowing cheap imports”.
As the UK Brexit Secretary clearly stated in February, the UK will not seek to lower legal and regulatory standards in order to compete with the European Market – and he proposed a system of mutual recognition.
Further, the UK Government has said that it will match the current EU budget that supports farming and rural economies, but we need to see more of the annual £350 million currently coming to Wales under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy getting to the frontline.
Whilst welcoming the Phase One agreement in respect of rights for EU citizens in the UK and UK nationals living and working in the EU, our Report noted concerns that uncertainty may be having an effect on the number of EU and EEA nationals leaving the UK – referring, for example, to evidence from the British Veterinary Association and RCN Wales.
The UK Government has made clear its continued commitment to meeting the workforce needs of our economy and society, and a post-Brexit White Paper is now expected before the summer recess in July.
Like Senna the Soothsayer in ‘Up Pompeii!’, this place is full of prophets of gloom preaching “The End Is Nigh”.
Contrary to the predictions of the doomsayers, it’s time to make Brexit work for a Wales in Europe, but not the EU, as part of an outward looking Global UK.