Impact of Brexit policy on textile/clothing and footwear UK imports

Abstract

On 23 June 2016, the UK voted to leave the EU, (Brexit). A four year and six-month period of uncertainty ensued before Article 50 was activated. Eventually the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) came into force on 1 May 2021. The UK retail sector, in particular the textile/clothing and footwear, relies on high levels of international importation to the UK. As the negotiations between the UK and the EU were undertaken, key elements featured in the development of the new Brexit policy. This paper examines the impact on the textile/clothing and footwear UK importation trade in relation to three of these key elements:- June 23, 2016, UK voted to leave the EU. 29 March 2017 Article 50 was triggered. October 2019 Article 50 extended. The data was modelled using the main five UK import partners in relation to textile/clothing and footwear from the WITS (World Integrated Trade Solution) database and the UK Office of National Statistics annual and monthly data sets, in relation to the three key elements of policy. The study provided an initial insight into the impact of policy decision making during the Brexit process. The findings show that Key elements of Brexit policy making had a negative impact on importation trade in relation to Textile/Clothing and Footwear. Further research is recommended to establish the long-term effects of Brexit policy on the UK retail economy as a whole, over the next five years. This to be extended to the export of textile/clothing and footwear from the UK to EU and Non-EU trading partners.