Brexit 'a mixed bag' for firm 10 years after vote

1 hour ago

Rob Trigg,in Bridgnorthand

Tom Oakley,West Midlands

News image — Adrian Musgrave said from Bridgnorth Aluminium has more customs procedures to go through post-Brexit

BBC A man stands on a factory floor wearing a hardhat and glasses, as well as a hi-vis jacket. He also wears glasses. — Adrian Musgrave said from Bridgnorth Aluminium has more customs procedures to go through post-Brexit

A manufacturer says Brexit has brought both challenges and opportunities for business, a decade after voters backed leaving the European Union.

When the vote took place in June 2016, there was even more of an appetite in Shropshire for the Leave campaign, with almost 57% of voters backing Brexit.

Bridgnorth Aluminium exports about 60% of its products to customers in the EU and has had to adapt to new trading arrangements since the UK formally left the bloc in 2020.

The company said trading with Europe was no longer as straightforward as it was before Brexit, with additional customs procedures and longer delivery times creating extra work for staff.

But the manufacturer also said that Brexit has helped secure new business in the United States, which could potentially create more jobs in the future.

Bridgnorth Aluminium An aerial view of the Bridgnorth Aluminium factory with vehicles surrounding it and fields in the background — Bridgnorth Aluminium said leaving the EU had offered negatives and positives

"It's a mixed bag," said Adrian Musgrave, the firm's head of sales. "Obviously there were no tariffs into the EU, but there's a lot more complexity involved than there was prior to the Brexit arrangements.

"We have more customs procedures to go through and we've had to expand the shipping team a little to cope with that."

Across the UK, 52% to 48% voted to leave the European Union in the referendum on 23 June 2016.

But it would take another four years, two prime ministers and a general election, to pass the legislation needed to make it a reality.

Musgrave said different countries now applied customs checks in different ways, adding to the challenge.

"That frictionless trade that we had prior to Brexit is not the same, so there is a little bit more friction in getting goods there," he added.

Musgrave pointed to a UK-US trade agreement on steel and aluminium which gives British aluminium exports a lower tariff than those produced in the EU.

BBC/ Jeff Overs The Union Flag flies next to the EU flag outside one of the towers at the Palace of Westminster. — The UK formally left left the EU at the end of January 2020

The advantage helped Bridgnorth Aluminium land a major new contract with Lotte Aluminium Materials USA, a supplier to the battery industry, the company said.

The five-year deal will see the company supply battery-grade aluminium to Lotte's facility in Kentucky, supporting the growing electric vehicle supply chain in North America.

"The fact that we have a lower tariff into the US than our EU competitors was instrumental in securing that deal," Musgrave said.

"We've just signed a five-year agreement with a Korean company that built a new factory in Kentucky, and we're supplying them with the raw material for battery foil."

Bridgnorth Aluminium employs 368 people and the sales chief said the agreement would help secure jobs and bring further investment into the area.

"It's been five years in the making, and we're yet to see the volume all coming through.

"But essentially [it will] secure jobs, it may bring more jobs, and that brings wealth into the Bridgnorth area which gets spent in the local community," Musgrave added.