Roland Rudd: '˜Hard Brexit' is cliff-edge for Yorkshire's economy

It is crucial that they think again, and that the people of Yorkshire let them know loud and clear that they are making a mistake. In the referendum last June, a majority of the British people gave their politicians a simple instruction – the United Kingdom should leave the European Union. That should be respected.

But hard Brexit was not on the ballot paper.

The Government’s error in the past weeks has been to give up on the best post-Brexit trading deal for Britain without even trying: membership of the Single Market and the Customs Union.

These are the institutions that ensure completely free trade around Europe, the UK’s biggest trading partner.

The Single Market simplifies and standardises rules across the continent, making it much easier to sell goods and services. So businesses only need to obey one health and safety standard rather than 27; and workers with a professional qualification in Britain will have that recognised in other EU countries.

The Customs Union completely abolishes tariffs – taxes on goods traded between countries – and costly and time-consuming border checks on goods traded within European countries.

Being part of the Single Market and Customs Union is incredibly important for Yorkshire. According to the Treasury, 250,000 jobs here are linked to exports to the European Union, while European companies have invested £3.7 billion here over the last five years. The Government has made a political choice to voluntarily put this all at risk before negotiations with our European partners have even begun. If you were haggling over the cost of a new car, you wouldn’t give up on the best possible price before even walking into the dealership.

This is the problem with allowing immigration policy to dictate economic policy – it could leave our country worse off for generations to come.

I know that most people in Yorkshire want to see immigration reformed, but they do not want to sacrifice jobs, wages and exports to do it. The Government had the chance to explore the possibility of a deal that would reform immigration and retain fully free trade with Europe. They have refused to do so out of blinkered ideology, not hard-headed diplomacy.

We must not give up. Those who believe that the Single Market is the best option for jobs and prosperity in Yorkshire, as we do at the Open Britain campaign, will keep fighting to pressure the Government into changing course.

The Brexit Secretary, David Davis, has promised that despite the Government’s decision to leave the Single Market, we will still have the “exact same benefits” in trade with Europe as we now have. We will hold the Government to this promise, and campaign against a hard Brexit that leads to job losses in Yorkshire.

While leaving the Single Market and negotiating a trade deal with the EU instead would not be the best option, there is a still worse way of leaving the EU that would be devastating for Yorkshire’s economy. That would be an extreme Brexit with no deal at all. The Prime Minister has said this could happen, and “no deal is better than a bad deal”.

Let me be clear. Leaving the European Union with no deal at all would be a disaster.

This would mean leaving the Single Market and Customs Union, with no free trade deal or customs agreement at all.

We would face cripplingly high tariffs on every single product exported from Yorkshire to the European Union – 10 per cent on cars, 12 per cent on some items of clothing, and 40 per cent on lamb, for example. And the same would be true of goods imported from Europe, which would mean higher prices in the shops.

In addition, goods would sit in our ports, potentially for days on end, waiting to be inspected and signed off by customs officials. Companies that sell their products to Europe would suddenly have to abide by new and divergent regulations. This would hit businesses across Yorkshire and the UK hard.

The Government’s first duty must be to prevent this from happening. That means we need a transitional arrangement, which can last from the time we leave the European Union until a new trade agreement with Europe can be instituted. We will be out of the EU in two years’ time, but free trade deals can take much longer – seven years in the case of the EU’s deal with Canada. At Open Britain, we will be fighting hard for a transitional arrangement that protects business and jobs in Yorkshire.

On June 23 last year, the people of Yorkshire did not vote to make our country poorer.

If that is what the Government’s Brexit deal achieves, it will be a betrayal. That’s why we need to unite against a hard, destructive Brexit that reduces trade, cuts jobs, and makes working people in Yorkshire worse off. It is good Parliament will have a say on the final deal. But MPs must be given the power to prevent the Government from taking us over a cliff-edge – and send them back to the table to negotiate a better Brexit deal.

Roland Rudd is chairman and founder of PR firm Finsbury. He is also chairman of Open Britain.