Conservatives win UK elections, concern for no deal Brexit looms

As the Tories won a sweeping majority, UK voters were in clear favour of Mr Johnson’s promise to ‘Get Brexit Done.” As a result, the EU Withdrawal Agreement will now pass without further delay.

Retailers and fashion businesses will have to wait and see the trade deals that are negotiated with the EU and whether the UK’s most important trading power will have a closer relationship than the US or Asia.

Walpole, the British sector body for luxury brands, said: “The optimism British luxury businesses may feel at having a majority government will inevitably be tempered by caution. After all, the EU represents 42 percent of British luxury exports, and supply chains are heavily integrated across Europe.”

“Mr Johnson has previously ruled out extending the transition period beyond December 2020 and the timetable for negotiating the future UK/EU trading relationship remains extremely tight.”

UK retailers account for 5 percent of GDP

The Conservatives have pledged for corporation tax to remain at 19 percent with a further reduction to 18 percent in April 2020. This is to entice any exodus of businesses setting up headquarters outside of the UK, as has been widely speculated. UK retailers currently pay approximately 2.7 billion pounds of corporation tax annually and account for 5 percent of GDP.

A British parliamentary report released earlier this year stated the UK had lost out on 5 billion pounds in infrastructure funding in the past year.

The Withdrawal Agreement Bill, which is the blueprint for a Brexit on 31 January, will have its second Commons reading on Friday, 20 December.

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