A cross party report from the European Union Committee said that non-financial services, which account for 39 per cent of UK exports, will be 'badly damaged' if Britain fails to strike a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). In fact, The House of Lords peers have gone as far as to say that British lawyers could be barred from working in Europe without a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) stating that they would face ‘increased, and in some cases absolute, barriers to trading with the EU’ and would likely ‘relocate to the EU'. 

Deal vital

It pointed out that businesses could be forced either to re-structure or relocate in order to continue to operate in the way that they do today highlighting that a deal was vital because many of these non-financial industries have no World Trade Organisation rules to fall back on. ‘Unregulated PBS, like management consulting, would be able to continue trading with the EU, although even they could be indirectly affected...In such a scenario, it is likely that PBS firms, in particular those in the legal sector, would either relocate to the EU, or move resources to partner firms within the EU, in order to continue to trade on preferential terms...Both outcomes could have a negative effect on the UK’s trade balance, tax revenues and employment.’