Brexit has reduced the number of British exporters to the EU by a third

[Joe Republic]

The number of UK businesses exporting goods to the EU fell 33 per cent to 18,357 in 2021, from 27,321 in 2020, according to data from HMRC.

Discussing the figures with City A.M. today. Michelle Dale, a senior manager at accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young, pointed out the fall is due to the extra red tape UK businesses must now comply with when exporting to the EU.

“Businesses are not getting enough support from the Government to navigate the post-Brexit trading minefield,” she said.

“A lot of SMEs can’t afford professional advice to cope with Brexit-related red tape. Many are likely to have decided trading with the EU is not worth the cost,” Dale added.

“Fewer UK companies exporting to the EU will result in lost opportunities for growth and expansion in Europe.”

[Alcibiades]

B-b-but project fear!!!

[Person Man]

The first country in modern history to put sanctions on itself.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

Lol

[Progressive Pessimist]

Suckers.

[CumbrianLefty]

B-b-but project fear!!!

As a prominent Brexit campaigner actually said, its all upside and no downside.

[If my soul was made of stone]

Totally worth it for the chance to snog a fish

[TheTide]

As with (upcoming?) Scottish independence, economic effects aren't really the point. Brexit is a matter of identity and a view about the role of the nation state etc.

[If my soul was made of stone]

As with (upcoming?) Scottish independence, economic effects aren't really the point. Brexit is a matter of identity and a view about the role of the nation state etc.

https://twitter.com/dril/status/435373709344251904

[TheTide]

It's also quite ironic that Brexit red tape is apparently one of the biggest problems, given the number of free market deregulation people who have/had prominent positions in government.

[dead0man]

Is the "red tape" on their side of the channel, or the other?  'cause if it's on teh EU side, this is not the slam you think it is.  If it's on the Brit side, well that's too dumb for words.  Why would they put red tape on exporters?


Also, this is hurting the EU as well.  Trade benefits both parties, it's why we do it.

[CumbrianLefty]

As with (upcoming?) Scottish independence, economic effects aren't really the point. Brexit is a matter of identity and a view about the role of the nation state etc.

Well yes, we all know this.

But convincing less committed voters that it would be at least relatively benign economically was one of the ways Brexit actually won the 2016 referendum, and would be crucial in any future Scottish vote as well. In neither case are the "true believers" enough on their own.

[Sir Mohamed]

"Let's fund our NHS instead...." LOL!

[Progressive Pessimist]

As with (upcoming?) Scottish independence, economic effects aren't really the point. Brexit is a matter of identity and a view about the role of the nation state etc.

So, like most things with the international right, the tangible negative consequences are worth the smug sense of self-satisfaction.

[Fight for Trump]

Is the "red tape" on their side of the channel, or the other?  'cause if it's on teh EU side, this is not the slam you think it is.  If it's on the Brit side, well that's too dumb for words.  Why would they put red tape on exporters?


Also, this is hurting the EU as well.  Trade benefits both parties, it's why we do it.

There is red tape in exporting to any country. When the UK was in the EU, exports to the continent were streamlined to a level not much more difficult than trading goods and services between US states. (or perhaps in between that and trading between the US and Canada, i.e. not that hard) Now, businesses have to go from easy mode to full-blown international commerce, with tax and regulatory hurdles they'd never had to deal with before - fine for large businesses, but the hurdles can prove too steep and expensive for small businesses.

[Joe Republic]

Even the subject of the government's own propaganda material has suffered a 99.7% loss of income from their exports:

A Kent brewery chosen to help champion export opportunities for the government after Brexit has revealed that burdensome customs checks and paperwork have left it with just one remaining customer in the EU.

The Old Dairy Brewery in Kent – a Department for International Trade export champion for the south-east – appeared in a government video last year promoting the potential to boost Brexit export sales.

However its exports of bottled and keg Kent ale to countries including Italy, Germany and Sweden have slumped since the UK left the EU because of the onerous paperwork.

The brewery now has just one EU customer, a Berlin pub operator who travels to England by van to pick up the beer. The value of the Kent brewery’s annual beer exports have fallen from £600,000 to £2,000.

Virginia Hodge, export manager at the brewery, based at Tenterden, said: “Some transport companies won’t take alcohol now because of all the transit documents you need. I used to be able to make up a case of beer and send it by courier [to the EU] and now I have to send it through the full customs declaration. Our customers in Europe say they want to take British beer, but it’s just not cost effective. They’ve got to do a lot more paperwork.”

She said the brewery’s one remaining EU customer had faced multiple challenges. She said: “The first time he came over, we were up all night trying to get him through customs at Dover and out of the country.

“He was stuck because of the paperwork. He used to come over for just one night, but now it takes four days because of all the problems.”

Hodge said small businesses were not given sufficient support. She said: “There is nobody to ask and there is no system.” She said advisers on government helplines referred questions about export problems to the government website.

It's worth noting that overall sales for goods exported from the UK to the EU reached a 25-year peak in July.  However, the businesses able to keep up with the changes are the huge companies with the teams of lawyers and logisticians already built in.  As usual, it's small businesses like the one above who are hung out to dry.

[Samof94]

How’s Ireland doing??? They use Euros and are in the EU still, and are culturally and linguistically similar.