The boss of automaker Aston Martin cautioned it was probably too late to present the kind of technology required for the post-Brexit customs plan that is supported by many British eurosceptics.
Chief Executive Andy Palmer said that getting the technology in place would cost millions of pounds and it appeared to be too late to do it in time for the end of a planned Brexit transition time that will run until December 2020.
“The time just doesn’t exist now,” Palmer stated in an interview at the automaker’s Gaydon plant located in central England.
“You’ve got to get the interface with the government’s agencies, then you’ve got to implement it on your parts, and then you’ve got to get it out to your 10,000 suppliers across the world,” Palmer stated. “It’s immense.”
Palmer stated he could not say it would be not possible because it would depend on exactly what such arrangements would require.
Britain’s future customs relationship with the EU are probably going to remain unclear at least until an EU leaders’ summit in October.
Prime Minister Theresa May has ruled out staying in a customs union with the EU – the option supported by many employers’ groups – and her government is split over two options for a customs arrangement with the EU.
Brexit supporters supporting independence from the bloc tend to support a “maximum facilitation”, or “max fac”, option in which cameras and a trusted-trader system would be utilized to cut delays and costs at the border.
Others in the government support a plan under which Britain would cooperate with Brussels more better and collect tariffs on its behalf, so declarations are not needed for goods crossing the EU-British border.
Previously on Tuesday, manufacturing trade group EEF called on the government to abandon the “max fac” option, adding it was naive and a waste of money.
