BBC shows its anti-Brexit bias yet again

Commons report critical of Government is turned into a report critical of Brexit

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2022

Public Accounts Committee looks at value for money of Government – but BBC uses it for anti-Brexit headlines

Yesterday (Wed 09 Feb 2022) the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, which has as its remit the task of establishing value for money and diligent use of public funds, published a report on “EU Exit: UK Border post transition” which was highly critical of the government’s performance to date.

On examination by Facts4EU, the report shows evidence of veering off from the Committee’s widely understood remit, and worse, of being used by the BBC in a partisan fashion as evidence of systematic Brexit failure rather than government failures.

It is also clear that the report makes little allowance for the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns and other pandemic-related restrictions on the ability of the Government and its agencies to progress the installation of processes and infrastructure.

What the Public Accounts Committee said and the Facts4EU response

Conclusion #1: “The new border arrangements have yet to be tested with normal passenger volumes and may be further challenged when the EU introduces requirements for biometric passport checks.”

FACT: This has nothing to do with Brexit. Everyone on the Committee seems to have forgotten that the UK and Ireland were NOT signatories of the Schengen Agreement and as such passport checks were still required for people coming from or going to EU member states. The introduction of new biometric passport checks by the EU would therefore make no difference had there been Brexit or not, as this change would still have applied to truck drivers, passengers and others if Brexit had never happened. Blaming Brexit for possible disruption in the future – the first conclusion of the report - is therefore misplaced.

Conclusion #2: “The new controls in place over the movement of goods from the UK to the EU have created additional costs for businesses and affected international trade flows.” The Committee then goes on to say, “It is not yet clear to what extent the declines in UK trade with the EU since the end of the transition period have been caused by EU exit, or by the COVID-19 pandemic”.

FACT: The Committee cannot separate the costs of Brexit from the costs of Covid-19. It simply does not know and cannot apportion blame.

The Committee then goes on to state: “In 2019, HMRC estimated that complying just with new customs rules could cost UK and EU businesses £15 billion per year.”

FACT: The balance of goods trade is far greater coming from the EU to the UK than departing from the UK to the EU. Therefore the larger part of any extra cost will be borne by the EU companies. That said, costs for implementing the change in procedures was anticipated by the Government and support was put in place to help with adjustment. It is one thing to say it was inadequate or did not reach the right people – a function of Government performance – but it is another to say that it did not happen because of Brexit itself. FACT: HMRC said in its evidence that “there are indications that the costs to businesses will be less than that estimate.”

Conclusion #3: “More could be done by Government to ensure small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are prepared to face the additional costs and administration required by new border requirements.”

FACT: The Committee itself stated, “Some support was provided to SMEs, including the £20 million SME Brexit Support Fund, but narrowly defined criteria meant that many businesses could not access this support and only £6.7 million was paid out.” This is a criticism of Government, NOT Brexit. The Government has sought to protect public funds but possibly been over-zealous in its approach.

Conclusion #4: “Government intends to introduce full import controls in phases from January 2022, but much work remains to be done.”

FACT: The Committee itself stated, “The government has delayed introducing these controls three times and now intends to introduce them in phases between January 2022 and November 2022”. However it made no reference to the fact that Covid-19 has disrupted all Government changes in processes and infrastructure due to the pandemic disruptions to staff illness and lack of availability. In contrast, France and the rest of the EU, which has not had changes to make has simply carried on regardless without any allowance for the pandemic. The Covid factor and the imbalance of approach – despite the Trade and “Cooperation” Agreement - is not mentioned by the media.

Conclusion #8: “Businesses have faced challenges operating under the Northern Ireland Protocol which need to be resolved.”

FACT: The Committee has accepted there are problems “operating under the Northern Ireland protocol” including “considerable diversion of trade” and lacks support among “significant parts of the northern Ireland community”. The BBC chose not to report that the committee recognised there were challenges, nor did they report any of the evidence surrounding those challenges.

The Committee then recommended “Government should continue its efforts to resolve the challenges of the Protocol and ensure that departments are ready to put any negotiated outcome into operation, and that it has prepared for any contingencies which may be required if an agreement cannot be reached between the UK and the EU.”

FACT: The Committee backed the Government in its efforts to resolve the Protocol and did not rule out it invoking Article 16 to suspend aspects of it. None of this was reported by the BBC.

[ Sources: House of Commons Public Accounts Committee report | BBC online news reporting. ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org,Thursday, 10 February, 2022

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