Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on (a) the economy and (b) revenue to the public purse of not recruiting an adequate number of customs brokers in the event that the UK leaves the EU (i) without a deal (ii) with a new customs partnership and (iii) with a maximum facilitation agreement.

The government recognises the importance of customs brokers in supporting business through the importing and exporting process.

Future customs arrangements will depend on the outcome of the negotiations. In some scenarios, following the UK’s exit from the EU, we expect that there would need to be an increase in capacity in the customs broker sector to meet business needs.

We are considering capacity and capability requirements for future customs arrangements as part of our EU exit planning.