The Government has published a White Paper which is intended to provide a clear vision of what the UK is seeking to achieve in negotiating our exit from, and new partnership with, the European Union. The Heritage Alliance is working closely with Government and other parts of the sector to gather evidence and highlight funding and regulations that are important to the sector, and explore concerns and opportunities.
The White Paper is based on the 12 points that the Prime Minister set out in her previous speech on Brexit:
- Providing certainty and clarity.
- Taking control of our own laws
- Strengthening the Union
- Protecting our strong and historic ties with Ireland and maintaining the Common Travel Area
- Controlling immigration
- Securing rights for EU nationals in the UK, and UK nationals in the EU
- Protecting workers’ rights
- Ensuring free trade with European markets
- Securing new trade agreements with other countries.
- Ensuring the UK remains the best place for science and innovation
- Cooperating in the fight against crime and terrorism
- Delivering a smooth, orderly exit from the EU
On migration the White Paper states that the UK ‘will remain an open and tolerant country, and one that recognises the valuable contribution migrants make to our society and welcomes those with the skills and expertise to make our nation better still. But in future we must ensure we can control the number of people coming to the UK from the EU.’
On regulation the Government’s general approach is to ‘ensure that all EU laws which are directly applicable in the UK (such as EU regulations) and all laws which have been made in the UK, in order to implement our obligations as a member of the EU, remain part of domestic law on the day we leave the EU. In general the Government also believes that the preserved law should continue to be interpreted in the same way as it is at the moment. This approach is in order to ensure a coherent approach which provides continuity. It will be open to Parliament in the future to keep or change these laws‘.
The Tourism Alliance has highlighted that Tables 8.3 and 8.4 on page 38 of the White paper suggest that Tourism is the UK’s fourth largest source of export earnings from the EU after Financial Services, Vehicles and Chemicals.