RHA chief executive, Richard Burnett is concerned that Government’s latest Brexit campaign “The UK’s new start: let’s get going” fails to address the magnitude of what is needed to manage customs complexities as businesses race to ensure their ‘border readiness’ ahead of post-transition trading.
Commenting he said: “This campaign will prepare Britain for the “significant opportunities” of Brexit. But I am completely at a loss to understand how this framework can be achieved by 1 January 2021.
UK businesses will have to employ the services of 50,000 customs intermediaries to handle the complex new processes allowing them to move goods across borders. The recruitment of this team alone will be a long process as will their necessary training.
“Time is running out and it’s still not clear if there will be the sufficient support needed to keep the cross-border supply chains moving.
“There remains a vast amount of work to be done and the timescales are extremely short.”