One of Britain’s top manufacturing exporters, the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, has urged the Prime Minister to secure a wide-ranging agreement as she kicks off the negotiations leading to the UK’s exit from the European Union.
Speaking immediately after publication of the letter confirming the UK is leaving the EU, the Chief Executive of the Chemical Industries Association Steve Elliott said “Whilst we, and others, will scrutinise and seek to influence each and every step until and beyond Brexit, we do want to make sure the Government is in the best informed and advised position it possibly can be to conduct a successful exit from the EU”. He continued “It is now more important than ever that the Government fully engages with the European Union, seeks input from all stakeholders and does not allow any short term political interests to harm future UK trade and investment prospects”.
Elliott concluded “The chemical and pharmaceutical industry will continue to work with Government and our partners across the continent to get the best deal for the chemical industry – a deal that will also support many of our customer industries who are dependent on our products and services. In these negotiations there is much more to unite the European chemical industry than divide us, with minimal disruption to our current trading relationships being our collective goal. I hope negotiations proceed smoothly and, whilst business needs certainty and to some extent speedy resolution, we also urge patience in order to make sure we avoid a bad deal or no deal”
ENDS
For further information or to speak to Steve Elliott please contact Simon Marsh 07951 389197 or [email protected].
The chemical and pharmaceutical industry adds £14 billion of value to the UK economy every year from total annual turnover of around £40 billion.
The UK is a leading global chemical and pharmaceutical producer.
The sector is the UK’s second largest manufacturing exporter.
Over £4 billion of capital and R&D investment is made by UK chemical and pharmaceutical companies.
The sector employs around 140,000 people directly and supports in total around half a million jobs.