Scottish Chambers welcomes progress on Brexit transitional arrangement

Scottish Chambers of Commerce has welcomed the announcement of progress on a transitional agreement between the EU and the UK.

Following talks in Brussels, the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier and Brexit Secretary David Davis said businesses would continue to enjoy unfettered access to the single market and the customs union until the end of 2020, earlier than the UK’s previous intended date of March 2021.

Other business leaders also greeted the agreement with relief after months of fear that firms could have faced a “cliff edge” break when the UK leaves the EU in March 2019.

Meanwhile, CBI director general Carolyn Fairbairn said the agreement brought “a welcome gift of time” for firms in the UK and the EU.

“Agreeing transition is a critical milestone that will provide many hundreds of businesses with the confidence to put their contingency planning on hold and keep investing in the UK,” she said.

“While some sectors may need more than 20 months to prepare for post-Brexit life, this is a victory for common sense that will help protect living standards, jobs and growth.”

Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “While some companies would have liked to see copper-bottomed legal guarantees around the transition, the political agreement reached in Brussels is sufficient for most businesses to plan ahead with a greater degree of confidence.”

However, Labour MP Chuka Umunna, a supporter of the Open Britain group which campaigns against a “hard Brexit” said the government had been forced to back down on a series of key demands. “Despite once claiming they held all the cards in the negotiations, in the end the Brexiteers have been prepared to compromise and surrender on almost every single point,” he said.

“On the divorce bill, on the primacy of European law, on freedom of movement, on fisheries, the government has yet again capitulated.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said the agreement did little more than “paper over the cracks” between the two sides.

“We still have little idea of what will happen to the Northern Ireland border.”

He added: “The Brexiteers have surrendered on almost every single point.”