UK: Responding to the UK’s formal notification on March 29 of its intention to withdraw from the European Union, the Railway Industry Association which represents manufacturers and service providers said it would be ‘engaging with government to ensure that the UK railway supply industry’s needs are represented’.
‘Brexit presents the industry with both challenges and opportunities’, said Chief Executive Darren Caplan. ‘The Railway Industry Association will seek to be specifically included in any Brexit agreement negotiated, ensuring UK railways sit alongside automotive and aerospace as one of the Department for Exiting the EU’s top transport sectors.
‘Additionally, we will work with the UK government to maintain trade in as frictionless a manner as possible, for example on standards and tariffs; and we will seek to ensure our industry continues to have access to an adequate supply of skilled labour from the UK and around the world, regardless of the outcome of these negotiations.’
- Patrick Flaherty, UK & Ireland CEO of engineering consultancy AECOM, said there should be a focus on infrastructure projects to give confidence to the UK market which ‘faces a minimum of two years of continued uncertainty’. He said ‘large-scale domestic schemes such as HS2, Crossrail 2, a third runway at Heathrow and the Northern Powerhouse programme are critical to the country’s ability to compete on a global stage’.
