Hello dear reader, in February's issue we sought to tackle the thorny issue of Brexit head on, with the sign-making industry specifically in mind. If you turn to p30 and p42 we have provided some clear predictions, best-practice, and advice for how you can prepare your business.

There is some clarity beginning to emerge, and confidence that a final deal will be agreed upon by October of this year is growing. The key issue remains that there is a long road ahead of negotiations around seemingly intractable issues around immigration rights, the Irish boarder, the final divorce bill (£35bn to £39bn), and future regulatory divergence. This last point is going to be the focus for the next few months.

The chief roadblock on this particular path to Brexit is that Theresa May has set down the red lines that we must leave the agreements on free movement of people and withdraw from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. The EU at the moment is putting down its own red line that this will result in a free trade deal akin to that of South Korea. The counter position is that even in 2030 we would still be at least the most EU legislative-compliant country in the world, and so that should mean a more comprehensive trade deal is possible.

It looks like the only bridge that can be built on this issue will be the agreement of a quota on EU nationals migration and their exemption from any type of points-based system for entry to the UK. The hard border in Ireland, meanwhile, is seen by almost all commentators as the ultimate obstacle to staying within May’s redlines. It means there has to be ‘a deal’, as ‘no deal’ will lead to a hard border.

My personal advice is to keep yourself very well briefed and create contingency plans based on a pound worth 25 percent less than its current value versus the dollar. Also look closely at how you could cope if your EU supply lines similarly increased in price by 25 percent.

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