Responding to the NAO report ‘Exiting the EU: Consumer
Protection, competition and state aid’, Cllr Kevin Bentley,
Chairman of the LGA’s Brexit Taskforce, said:
“This report highlights a number of concerns the LGA has
already raised about the impact of Brexit on local
regulators, particularly in port areas. It is positive that
additional funding is being allocated to the Competition and
Markets Authority by the Government to help prepare for the UK to
leave the EU in these important regulatory areas. However to
ensure a smooth exit, it is important that funding and capacity
is also provided to local authorities carrying out this
important work on the ground.
“Without UK access to European-wide databases which provide much
of the intelligence for assessing risks, due to no longer being
an EU member, more checking of imports by local government is
inevitable – and valuable protections risk being weakened. While
this report focuses on consumer goods and product safety issues,
there could be a much wider impact on valuable health protections
linked to food and feed goods, impacting a range of other
services as well as trading standards.
“Without substantial extra resources for councils, more checks
are likely to lead to delays at ports, particularly where there
is limited space to process them.
“A UK successor to state-aid represents an opportunity to reform
and improve the current process, which could help small
businesses, charities and local voluntary groups benefit from
direct financial support from councils, when they undertake
activities of benefit to the local community. The LGA is keen to
work with government on the design of any future system post
Brexit.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
The LGA has recently warned that leaving the EU without access to
reciprocal intelligence will weaken our ability to protect public
health and the economy which can be read here.
The LGA has also set out clear options to both mitigate risks and
capitalise on opportunities which may arise from Brexit in their
recent publication ‘Brexit: Moving the conversation on’ which was
launched at the LGA’s Annual Conference and can be
read here.
