Brexit Support Hub to offer advice to Scottish businesses

A new hub to help address Brexit concerns among Scottish businesses has been launched.

The centre has been set up by Scottish Enterprise in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, and will provide support and advice to firms across the country as they prepare for the UK's exit from the EU.

A total of 160 staff have been deployed to the hub, where they will give specific Brexit support to businesses and partners.

Speaking during a visit on Monday, Trade Minister Ivan McKee said: "It's important that this resource is available for business.

"It's part of a suite of resources we have in place with the website, the online diagnostic tools signposting businesses to the right information that's out there.

"The Scottish Government is providing the support so that businesses can access the best available information."

He added: "Some businesses will have exports to Europe, they don't know how those could be impacted because of regulation issues, labelling challenges, logistics challenges.

"It could be they've got suppliers in Europe that provide them with materials or services, and they need to understand how that could impact.

"It could be they've got people on their staff who are EU nationals that are living and working in Scotland and they could be impacted as well.

"So across a whole range of areas there's potential impacts and I think businesses that are looking at that would assess themselves using help from the online diagnostics tool and then use the phone number to call through to the expert advisers to find out any specific information they've still got questions about."

Mr McKee said while the final outcome of Brexit is not yet clear, it is important for businesses to prepare for all possible scenarios.

He said: "The Scottish Government has a clear position that we think Brexit is a mistake and we think that it's not good for Scotland's economy in any form.

"A no-deal Brexit would be a complete disaster. The hard Brexit deal the Prime Minister has on the table at the moment is also particularly bad for Scottish business.

"The range of outcomes is unknown, it's best to prepare for the worst, be that a no-deal scenario or be that the hard Brexit that the Prime Minister is proposing at the moment, and businesses need to be ready for all of those scenarios."

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