How Kirklees Council's Brexit preparations are progressing

Meanwhile there are concerns for the future of businesses, jobs and workers, including migrants.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the UK’s Brexit deadline will be January 31.

That means local authorities across the nation are tasked with preparing for life outside the European Union, with a focus on how that will affect their specific areas.

But one senior Kirklees councillor has cautioned that whilst preparations are on-going there is a “fog” around the detail of Brexit that will only clear in the months ahead.

Kirklees Council set up a Brexit Tactical Group “to fulfil its role of ensuring an appropriate level of preparedness for the withdrawal, encompassing likely scenarios following the UK’s exit from the EU with a particular focus on supporting vulnerable people.”

The team has authored a report that anticipates the various possible impacts of Brexit on the Kirklees economy.

However it warns that “there is no way to judge the true impact on any given sector” as the extent of regulatory changes or levels of agreed tariffs are yet to be determined.

The report shows approximately 13,000 EU workers in Kirklees as of December 2019 with around a third having applied for settled status.

Many workers are in low skilled jobs with 47% in elementary process plant occupations such as packing.

It identified 79 companies in Kirklees that are subsidiaries of EU-based parent companies with five groups accounting for more than 3,000 employees and a turnover of £475m.

In Kirklees there are 19 businesses that have EU-based subsidiaries, all of which are subsidiaries of larger parent companies of which four are also EU-based.

The report said: “This latter group presents a particular risk of suffering restructuring for logistical or tax reasons, which could place jobs at risk.”

Up to 10% of social care workers in Kirklees are EU citizens. Concern has been expressed that earnings post-Brexit will be “far below” the potential minimum threshold.

The Brexit debate that has gripped the country since the referendum in 2016 continued in the council chamber at Huddersfield Town Hall as politicians argued over the meaning of the January 31 deadline.

“We aren’t really leaving on the 31st of January,” said committee chair Clr Andrew Cooper (Green, Newsome). “The real Brexit is at the end of the year.”

In response Coun John Taylor (Con, Kirkburton) said: “Politically we are leaving on the 31st.”

Coun Will Simpson (Lab, Denby Dale) said he agreed with Clr Taylor but added: “If I can steal and distort Peter Mandelson’s phrase for a minute – he said ‘We’re all Thatcherites now’ – we’re all Brexiteers now, whether we like it or not.”

Coun Graham Turner, the council’s political lead on Brexit, said officers would be working on the authority’s plan throughout the coming year.

“It’s all a bit foggy but the fog will start to clear and I can ensure you that we will work to maximise the opportunities for us as a council and the residents of Kirklees.”