Andrew Howie, Managing Partner of Grant Thornton in Scotland and Northern Ireland, commented:
“Businesses will welcome this as starting to provide some further clarity on the way forward. There is one additional matter that our clients want government to address now: they want them to give a guarantee that EU citizens currently working in Scotland, and indeed throughout the UK, will have a right to remain. This is creating huge uncertainty for people and the organisations that employ them. From financial services to farms; from care homes to construction. This is impacting on key parts of the economy already, not least most of our key public services, and we would call for a unilateral announcement by the Westminster Government to secure their position to remain, which will also set a positive tone for more collaborative discussions with the EU.
“This week also provides a good reminder to organisations that to succeed in a post Brexit world UK companies need to start taking action now to develop their connections into new markets and collaborating with other companies in their supply chain to increase their access to global trade. They will also have to assess and update contingency plans as the terms of the deal become more apparent.”