North Yorkshire imports hundreds of millions of pounds from the EU in the services sector

The Confederation of British Industry said the numbers show the importance of a good Brexit deal with the European Union, which must put services “at the heart” of future trading.

Opposition parties are urging the Government to seek an extension to the current transition period in light of the “catastrophic economic impact” of the coronavirus outbreak.

Data from the Office for National Statistics, published for the first time, shows North Yorkshire imported services worth £252 million in 2017, excluding travel.

The CBI said services are “essential to our prosperity in towns up and down the country”, though often invisible to our daily life.

Nicole Sykes, the lobby group’s head of UK-EU negotiations, said: “These figures show clearly that trade with the EU, especially in services makes it really important we get a good services deal.”

Though the value of the travel industry for this area is not available, figures show it was the largest type of EU service import to Yorkshire and the Humber, and is worth £2.42 billion.

A Government spokesman said that since 2000, UK imports of services from the rest of the world has increased faster than those from the EU.

He added: “As a new independent trading nation, we will have the opportunity to strike free trade agreements which will be a key driver in levelling up the UK, benefiting every region and nation.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers – and consequently the advertising that we receive – we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you