He intends instead to axe EU regulations that currently mean the Government has to give those contracts based purely on which businesses provide the lowest prices. Instead, the Prime Minister is proposing a complete overhaul of the current system of procurement rules, which could potentially provide these businesses with billions of pounds. UK small businesses have long lamented how the current rules allow them to be outcompeted by foreign firms, who are more able to offer bargain prices.
The proposals put forward by Mr Johnson and Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Dowden, should mean councils and the civil service will find it easier to hire locally.
This would incentivise a move away from any current reliances on large multinational firms.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Mr Dowden emphasised that the proposed reforms would act as “a real opportunity for a Brexit dividend”.
He said: “When we leave Europe to be able to fashion our own rules, we’ve got a once in a generation opportunity to make sure that we have the best procurement system in the world.”
Mr Johnson and Mr Dowden want to open up the annual £292bn procurement budget to smaller British companies and reverse the current reliance on dominant large suppliers.
Once leaving the EU, the Government would be able to award contracts based on other criteria than price.
Priorities like investment in environmental standards and apprenticeships schemes could be possibly considered.
Mr Dowden insisted that standards will not be slashed as the UK diverges away from the EU in terms of the way it lets and awards contracts.
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“There’s a huge opportunity here post-Brexit to design rules that are suited to the best interest of the United Kingdom, and to me the best interest of the United Kingdom includes making it simple, straightforward transparent and open for small businesses.”
This comes as, Mr Johnson warned the country faces years of further delay if Mr Corbyn takes over the process.
In a letter to the hard-left Opposition leader, he laid bare Labour’s record of Brexit betrayal and accused the party of planning to take the country “back to square one”.
He wrote: “For months you have refused to say what sort of ‘deal’ you want with the EU. “Now the time has come for you to come clean, and explain what your plan really is so when the public vote on December 12th, they know what they are voting for.”
“After three years of delay, the public wants to get Brexit done,” Mr Johnson wrote. “We need a Parliament that is willing to allow this country to move on – that is why we are holding this election.”
“They now need to know where you stand when it comes to Brexit.”
Mr Johnson said Labour would put the country on course for more extensions, which would “prolong the divisions in our society”.
He warned forcing the public to vote in another referendum because the elite did not like the result would “destroy all faith in our democratic process”.
Mr Johnson’s withdrawal agreement sets December 31 next year as the deadline for signing off details of future relations.
