LONDON (CU)_Current troubles faced by companies on account of Brexit will be more than made up by future opportunities in developing markets, Dominic Raab says. Speaking on BBC’s Andrew Marr programme on Sunday (Feb 14), the foreign secretary urged businesses to take a “10-year view” on the issues that are currently being dealt with on the Irish Sea border and elsewhere.
“We have always been clear that there are changes that come with exiting the transition period, and what we’re trying to do is support businesses as best we can to manage those,” he said.
“I think if you take a 10-year view, as well as looking at the short-term risk, which is right to do, actually the growth opportunities in the future are going to come from emerging and developing economies around the world.”
When inquired if this meant that British businesses should trade less with the EU and instead focus on elsewhere, Raab said: “I wouldn’t put it quite in those terms”. He noted that while trade with the EU is “very important” to the UK, however, the opportunities for growth in the future for British companies will come from the Indo-Pacific region.
On the matter of warnings made by several firms that red tape and duties brought about by Brexit meant that British enterprises may go out of business, the foreign secretary appeared to blame Brussels, saying it was “imposing” obstacles to trade. The government is seeking to “reduce and mitigate as far as we can the bureaucratic obstacles that the EU is imposing”, he noted.
Furthermore, Raab rejected the claims that EU financial centres are taking considerable business from the City of London, saying that it would “undermine their own competitiveness”.
“[The EU] may be able to, if you like, nick a bit of business here or there from the City, but the problem is, the measures they will take to achieve that undermine their own competitiveness,” he said.
