Can Blockchain Salvage UK’s Post Brexit Mess?

By Sumedha Bose

It’s no secret that blockchain has found its way into many governments who rely on it heavily now for certain functions. From taxes to legal enforcement, to cross-border transactions; blockchain has set a whole new precedent of procedural conduct in such cases. Which is why it is not surprising that UK’s government is leaning heavily on this revolutionary technology to salvage their post Brexit relationship with the European Union.

The UK government recently published its post Brexit agreement with EU, in a document titled ‘The future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union.’

A highlight of the agreement is a customs arrangement which aims to establish a “new trading relationship between the UK and the EU” that would ensure frictionless access to each other’s borders and markets for goods. The new tariff system proposes that goods reaching the UK will have to pay UK tariffs and those destined for further in Europe will have to pay EU tariffs.

The agreement says that a “phased approach to implementation of this model” will be done and it is evident that this would require some sophisticated technology for a smooth transition. Cross-border data sharing would also require,

“storing of the entire chain of transactions for each goods consignment, while enabling that data to be shared securely between traders and across relevant government departments”.

This could check any import-export fraud and reduce effort and time consumption. The UK government plans to explore blockchain, AI and machine learning for the above purposes.

What hinders this process of tech exploration is the little or no knowledge that politicians actually have about such sophisticated technology. The government tech projects often fail to deliver what they set out to deliver in the first place. Such ignorance in today’s tech-driven world could be a deterrent to actual progress of the country. What this UK government needs right now is an intelligent political class that can steer this technology implementation in the right direction.