It has been reported that the British Prime Minister Theresa May is considering new proposals for the European Union regarding arrangements related to the land border between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland as Brexit negotiations continue.
Reports say that under the new British plan, which has yet to be officially announced and could likely change, that the UK would maintain goods regulations in Northern Ireland almost identical to the EU rules that exist in the Republic of Ireland. There would be new regulatory checks on goods passing between Northern Ireland and the British mainland, where different rules could apply once the country is outside the EU.
Obviously, as it stands, no deal has been struck and the border arrangements regarding the UK and EU’s major land border but there certainly is a possibility that Northern Ireland will essentially achieve a unique status within the UK.
For Northern Ireland, despite objections from leading politicians, specifically from the DUP, is that there is a huge possible commercial opportunity to be embraced. If it were to remain a part of the UK with a special status with relation to the Republic of Ireland then it could possibly become a place where ecommerce and marketplace businesses would be wise to be located in.
Assuming that goods within the UK could move freely between the mainland and the province and, possibly, some sort of free movement of goods persisted between the six counties and the Republic, then it would be a clever place to locate an ecommerce business that sells into the European Union. It would be an obvious place in the UK to locate an exporting business and that would bring considerable economic and employment benefits to the area.
And equally, a hard border on the island would also represent a literal barrier to trade and most probably bring with it delays and additional paperwork for marketplace sellers trading between the two countries. There is considerable online trade between the UK and Ireland and anything which dents that would be hard to swallow and that’s why a sensible arrangement that provides as porous a border as possible is desirable.
2 Responses
Jay, how typical of Ebay! Atleast yours get collected. We had collections not made by hermes 3 days in a row, then it took 4 emails to get a refund after we had to take everything to a collection point. All we got was a daily email telling us how sorry they were and we would definately get a collection the next day. It hasn’t been an isolated case either. The collections and customer service level when contacting hermes has been the worst ever this year. To the point that we have now completely abandoned using them.
I don’t understand the ebay delivery metrics…. it states it is about the seller sending on time… yet is measured on the parcel arriving on time. It takes no consideration of where a delivery is attempted but no one is in. It also as with almost all delivery times, states it is an ESTIMATE…. yet if a item is so much as one day late it is classed as bad service by the seller. They either need to remove the word estimate or give us atleast 1 days grace.
Just another bit of the ebay shambles I guess…. More fees anyone?!
All driving jobs extinct within 5-10 years. That’s the story. I hope the government are thinking deeply about this since an enormous amount of people are about to be unemployed. More people are directly and indirectly employed around transportation than there was in the docks and the mines. A bigger threat than a hard Brexit? Probably..
When you are choosing a new car in a few years will you choose one that can save you a taxi fare promptly taking you home when you have finished your meal out, collect your teenager from their friends house whilst your reading your newspaper at home, drive you from one coast to the other whilst you nap, allow you to work on your laptop and take a conference call whilst on the M25? All whilst being proven to be much safer than having the hands on the wheel yourself. I will on day one. Most people will 5 years down the line from that day. When the government finally bans driving the car yourself the small number of purists will also have to hand in their steering wheel and be content with going to special zones not to dissimilar to a racing track day.
Welcome to the future. If you are not employed in the sector the this looks exciting. If you have friends or loved ones who depend on work in transportation however, make sure you warn them.