Shevaun Haviland, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said she welcomed Burnham reopening the Brexit debate despite the uncertainty it could create, arguing that the UK’s current trading relationship with the EU was bad for business.
“We do think it’s right, because of what we know from the evidence of how businesses feel it’s not working,” she said.
Haviland said more than half of bosses surveyed by the business lobby group believed the deal negotiated by Boris Johnson’s government and enacted in 2021 was not helping them. “We expected it to be very difficult at the beginning, when [companies] were getting used to the new rules, and then it would sort of get easier as it went to along. But actually, that has not happened,” she said.
Economists estimate the cost to the UK economy has been up to £240bn so far, with national income per head between 6% and 8% lower than it would have been had the UK not left the EU. The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates a long-term hit of about 4% of gross domestic product.
Speaking in an interview with the Guardian in Norwich alongside Nova Fairbanks, chief executive of the Norfolk Chambers of Commerce, Haviland said the government had to take into account business frustrations with Brexit.
At Labour’s conference in Liverpool last month, Burnham said Brexit had done “more harm than good” as he pledged to reassess Britain’s relationship with the EU. He opened the door to options including fully rejoining the bloc, and this week he said failing to pursue a better deal with the EU would be a “major dereliction of duty”.