Leaving the European Union is an opportunity for the UK to use taxes and subsidies to encourage companies to step up spending, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
In addition to regulatory changes, “you can use tax systems and subsidies to boost investment,” he said in an interview on BBC television.
The issue of state aid rules was a major obstacle to the Brexit trade negotiations. Under the terms of the agreement, either party can impose tariffs on the other if it is clear that the companies are being unfairly undermined.
The UK is now operating off the block for the first time since the end of the transition period. Johnson has said he wants to use the UK’s new autonomy to boost science and “level up” troubled economies in the country’s poorest parts.
Many economists expect more paperwork and barriers to trade to harm economic growth in the same way that the coronavirus pandemic occurs.
Despite a number of new rules for trade with the EU, Brexit remains an advantage for exporters, Johnson said. “There’s some bureaucracy and we’re trying to get rid of it,” Johnson said when asked about the bureaucracy that went into effect Jan. 1. “We have a great opportunity to broaden our horizons and think globally and think big.”
(Add additional interview details.)