Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of commercial vehicle operators that will require European Conference of Ministers of Transport permits to transport goods to the (a) EU and (b) EEA countries in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal; and how many operators have applied for those permits in the last 12 months.

If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the EU has agreed a regulation on basic road connectivity that guarantees rights for UK hauliers to continue providing services between the UK and the EU. As it stands, the Regulation would come into effect were the UK to leave the EU without a deal, and would last until 31 December 2019 meaning that most haulage trips to EU or EEA countries will not be affected.

A small proportion of operators may require ECMT permits for transit to non-EU/EEA countries during November and December 2019. . However, the Government does not intend to rely on ECMT permits after we leave the EU as we would be working with Member States to agree bilateral arrangements. Many old bilateral agreements would become reinstated if we leave without a deal, and we are confident that other bilaterals will be agreed swiftly, given it is in the interest of both sides for freight to continue to flow.

2,143 UK goods vehicle operator’s licence holders applied for a total of 11,974 European Conference of Ministers of Transport annual permits in the last twelve months.