EXCLUSIVE: Fears new Brussels law that will 'crucify' UK ports may STILL apply post-Brexit

BRITAIN’S ports face being “crucified” by damaging Brussels legislation despite Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, Express.co.uk can reveal today.

By Nick Gutteridge 

 

Industry chiefs fear a controversial new law will drive many of our maritime businesses to the wall, putting more than 300,000 jobs at risk nationwide.
The hotly contested Port Services Regulation has been described as the death knell for Britain’s shipping industry and was strongly opposed by business leaders.
Its implementation was viewed as such a powder keg issue in the UK that senior bureaucrats put back the announcement on its future until after the June 23 referendum.

But this week the all-powerful EU Commission revealed it will plough ahead with the regulation amid warnings the Brexit vote may not exempt British ports from its punitive measures.
A spokesman for the Department for Transport said it will be "for the next administration" to decide whether or not to block the new law.
And today we can reveal the anger of UK representatives at the heart of the negotiations on its contents, who were “walked over” by stubborn bureaucrats who refused to compromise to protect jobs. 

REUTERS

Will pro-Remain Theresa May block the law if she becomes the next PM?

GETTY

More than 300,000 jobs are linked to Britain's booming ports industry

Their fascinating insight into the Brussels machine reveals how David Cameron’s hopes of reforming the sclerotic bloc were always forlorn, and shine a light on how irrelevant Britain’s interests were to Jean-Claude Juncker’s Commission.
The country’s largest port operator, Associated British Ports (ABP), said: “Liberating our ports from this damaging Regulation will be an important test of the success of the UK's Brexit negotiations."
Its intervention comes after Shipping Minister Robert Goodwill warned providers that the UK will still be bound by the terms of the controversial agreement if it opts to remain in the single market post-Brexit.
British port owners fear that the details of the deal, which includes the rolling out of extensive Brussels red tape, will decimate our successful shipping industry, which is the second largest in Europe.
And a source close to the UK's negotiating team has told Express.co.uk how Brussels refused to take British concerns into account, whilst our own Government ministers put up only half-hearted resistance to the plans. 

GETTY

Shipping Minister Robert Goodwill has said the regulation could still apply

BLOOMBERG

The vast majority of British ports are privately owned

We’ve been completely walked over

Source

They said: “We’ve been pretty much completely ignored. We had lots of reassurances from the Commission that they mean us no harm, but in terms of how they have translated into material changes to the regulation or exempting us from it, it’s amounted to zero.
“As far as being prepared to accommodate the unique structure of the UK ports is concerned there’s been no compromise, we’ve been completely walked over.”
At one point in the talks Brussels’ chief negotiator apparently told the British delegation that they should accept the Regulation or bureaucrats would “come back with something even worse”.
Meanwhile the politician heading up the discussions, Knut Fleckenstein, represents the city of Hamburg whose port recently received a billion euros (£827m) in state aid.
British delegates felt the socialist MEP had a “conflict of interest” and used discussions over the regulation as a “bargaining chip” to secure laxer rules on Government financing for ports in future.

The EU has strict state aid rules governing many industries which prevent individual countries from providing them financial support.
One source said: “The whole policy governing the future of the UK’s ports has become a function of Hamburg’s appetite for subsidy."
The row erupted because Britain’s ports are almost exclusively privately owned, whereas most of Europe’s are giant, state-run operations.
As a result the UK industry has proved nimble and more efficient, but the regulation includes reams of Brussels red tape concerning common standards which will put this status at risk.
It will also allow governments on the continent to pump more and more of their taxpayers’ money into state-owned ports that provide direct competition to our own.

Brexit: What happens next

Fri, June 24, 2016

After yesterday's referendum, here is a look at what will happen immediately following the historic vote for Britain toleave the EU.

Play slideshow

ABP, which handles trade worth around £150billion every year supporting 84,000 jobs, has vigorously opposed the plans.
A spokesman said: ”The UK is a maritime nation. Ports are a critical link connecting British businesses to global markets.
"The proposed EU Port Services Regulation will damage essential investment in the UK ports industry which, unlike ports elsewhere in Europe, is largely privately owned and privately funded.
“That's why the nation's ports have been united in opposing the regulation to protect investment, jobs and growth."
Daniel Mahoney, the Head of Economic Research at the Centre for Policy Studies think tank, has warned that Brussels will "crucify the UK’s ports" if it presses ahead with the plans.
He said: “The UK must now insist that these new regulations do not apply to the UK’s thriving ports industry."

And Andrew Moffat, the British Ports Association Chairman and Port of Tyne chief executive, has criticised the regulation which he says will "undermine" UK ports.
The EU Commission has reached an “informal agreement” with the European Parliament over the Regulation, which also has to be ratified by the 27-member European Council which is minus the UK.
Once it has been passed it will automatically become the law in all member states - including Britain until we officially leave - without being written into member states’ law books.
Express.co.uk contacted the Shipping Minister for comment and was referred to the Department for Transport.
A spokesman said: "The proposed deal on port services has yet to be finalised. The Prime Minister has made it clear that it will be for the next administration to determine the terms of our exit from the European Union.
“We remain a member of the EU with all of the rights and obligations that this entails and there will be no immediate changes."