What will a nation without the EU look like to pro-Brexit Yorkshire businesses?

Nathan Combes is a senior associate in Lupton Fawcett Denison Till’s employment law department.

So the result is in. It’s Brexit and shortly the slow process of severing the UK’s ties with the European Union will begin.

For the time being, no-one really has any clue about what a post-EU United Kingdom will look like, and employers throughout the largely pro-Brexit Yorkshire are beginning to ask themselves what this all means in terms of the rules and regulations that govern the employer/employee relationship.

As things presently stand it’ll be business as usual. The referendum’s leave vote does not, by itself, take the UK out of the EU, and until that political process is formally completed, the regions’ employers will remain bound by employment law as it presently stands.

A significant proportion of those laws are derived in whole or in part from the EU (e.g. the Agency Workers’ Regulations, TUPE and the Working Time Directive). The question of whether these (and other) EU derived employment rights and obligations will continue to be applicable to workers in a post EU UK will ultimately depend on the type of trading relationship that the UK eventually decides to adopt.

Many commentators are speculating about what form that relationship will take but in truth it’s likely to be some time before that vexed issue is eventually determined.

Many commentators appear to be suggesting that the most likely scenario is that the UK will seek to negotiate a deal with the EU which would see it retain full access to the Single Market.

This is sometimes referred to as the ‘Norway’ model and would involve the UK agreeing to retain existing EU employment laws together with the free movement of trade. On a technical level, this model would be relatively easy to implement given that the UK’s existing EU membership means that all of the necessary rules and regulations are already in place.

However, whether such an option would be palatable to the EU or indeed the UK government remains to be seen.

An alternative scenario could see the UK and the EU fail to reach an agreement which would allow the UK continuing access to the Single Market.

In this scenario the UK’s trade with the rest of the World would be governed by World Trade Organisation rules. From an employment law perspective, the lack of an EU/UK deal would largely permit the UK to determine its own employment laws.

Critics of this approach argue that whilst some of the UK’s existing rights are in excess of the requirements established by the EU, there is a risk that employment rights could be watered down or removed altogether in circumstances where the minimum levels of protection guaranteed by the UK’s membership of the EU disappear altogether.

Others deny that future governments would pursue a regressive legislative agenda.

I will end this article as I started it by confirming that for the time being it’s business as usual. As to the future? Only time will tell…

For further information or advice, please contact Nathan Combes at nathan.combes@luptonfawcett.law or 01904 561449

Businesses interested in finding out more can register to attend Lupton Fawcett’s free Brexit seminar which is being held at the Cedar Court Hotel in Wakefield (just off the M1) on 13 July. For further details click here.