Sinn Féin MP Chris Hazzard has called on the British government to provide urgent financial assistance to car dealerships affected by the loss of VAT margin schemes as a result of Brexit. 

The Brexit spokesperson said:

“If an urgent assistance scheme is not introduced, car dealerships will face a 20% hike in the cost of buying and selling used vehicles from Britain. 

“We have raised this issue previously with the British Government, who assured us they were ‘exploring options’ for addressing this issue with HMRC. It is imperative these solutions are implemented as soon as possible. 

“Passing this cost onto the consumer is simply not an option as that would result in a huge rise in the cost of a car.

‘The Tory government have foisted a disastrous hard Brexit on our local business community and they therefore have a responsibility to mitigate the consequences of this as much as possible.

“If they do not assist these businesses then I fear many of them will be left with no choice but to stop trading.”