Trading with Europe, one month on

In May, to coincide with the UK-EU Trade Summit, Walpole published the Trading with Europe report. This report brought together the key asks Walpole has been making of government over recent years, alongside new analysis of the impact of Brexit on our sector – finding that luxury exports to the EU were on average 43% lower than they may have been without Brexit.

Walpole warmly welcomes the commitments the government made with the EU at the summit to deliver an SPS Agreement, and to introduce a Youth Mobility Scheme. Both of these will bring meaningful improvements to the UK’s luxury sector. 

An SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary) Agreement will allow food and drink products to move across the UK-EU border more smoothly, and will help both importers and exporters who have faced growing challenges from border checks and paperwork over recent years. 

Access to European labour markets was a significant asset to our sector, and did not discourage businesses from investing in the training and development of home-grown talent – in fact it complemented it, as the wide range of British designers working in European brands demonstrates.

As such the introduction of a Youth Mobility Scheme will be a significant boost for retail and hospitality brands in particular, and will see accelerated development of the high-skilled workforce necessary to deliver luxury products and experiences.

Walpole is engaging closely with the government to ensure that these policies are as beneficial as possible to UK luxury – including pushing for the Youth Mobility Scheme to offer multi-year visas. 

Likewise, we continue to push the government to adopt the other recommendations of the report, to maximise the economic benefit of the UK’s improving relationship with the EU. 

Lead image: Harris Tweed Hebrides