The EUA contends that the government’s proposal would result in fines for British boiler makers when supplying UK consumers, while foreign manufacturers would not be subject to the same penalties.
Writing to the Minister, Lord Callanan, Mike Foster the CEO of EUA asked what assurances German, France and the Netherlands had given him to pay the boiler tax of £5000 for every unit sold more than the Whitehall dictated target. Mr Foster also taunted the Minister to say whether President Xi of China had agreed to pay such fines.
Mr Foster said: “This whole shambles of a Soviet-style production quota, with fines for selling items the state hasn’t agreed to, is a relic of a by-gone era. The Berlin Wall hasn’t come down for this Minister.”
Flabbergasted
“In the real world of international trade, applying fines to British home-produced goods but not imported ones just sells our own manufacturing industry down the river. And in these post-Brexit days, I’d be surprised if President Macron of France has agreed to pay such fines. I would be flabbergasted if President Xi of China had too.”
“I suspect those who drew up this daft policy didn’t even check to see if it breached our international trade obligations under the newly agreed Brexit arrangements. A £5000 levy on each imported boiler sold in the UK might attract the attention of the EU’s trade negotiators. If the government has no plans to fine overseas business, as it does our own, then it’s simply saying farewell to jobs of British workers.”
“Our industry has asked the government to meet to discuss our real concerns, but our request has fallen on deaf ears. It seems, quite literally, as they want the British boiler industry just to go away.”