HOW BRITISH BUSINESSES
IN CHINA SHOULD PREPARE
FOR A NO-DEAL BREXIT
The UK is scheduled to exit the European Union on the 31st October 2019.
With the final two Conservative Party leadership candidates, Boris Johnson
and Jeremy Hunt, refusing to rule out the possibility of a no-deal Brexit,
British businesses must now prepare for the potential subsequent fallout.
A no-deal Brexit would mean the end of the UK’s access to the European
Single Market and Customs Union, replaced by alignment with World Trade
Organisation rules on cross-border trade.
Continued uncertainty over a future Brexit deal has shaken business
confidence in the UK, with 22% of firms reporting plans to reduce investment
in the UK and 20% planning to move capacity to mainland Europe. 1 However,
British businesses largely believe that their China operations are insulated
from the potential effects of a no-deal Brexit, with 56% of members reporting
that they expected there to be no impact from a no-deal Brexit on their China
revenues and only 24% expecting their business to be negatively affected,
2
according to the Member Sentiment Survey produced by the British
chambers of commerce in China.
Are businesses right to feel removed from the ripple effects of a no-deal
Brexit scenario? We consulted with several client services firms with expert
knowledge on the subject, who gave the following advice for businesses to re-
evaluate their assessment of insulation from Brexit.
BRITCHAM POLICY INSIGHTS| PAGE 1