Half of UK firms find trading with EU difficult post-Brexit, says new survey
More than half of UK businesses who trade overseas are finding it difficult to trade goods with the EU post-Brexit, according to a new survey.
A new poll from the British Chambers of Commerce found that 56 per cent of firms “face difficulties adapting to the new rules for trading goods” with the EU and 77 per cent of firms for which the deal is applicable say “it is not helping them increase sales or grow their business”.
The results showed that 44 per cent of firms surveyed also faced difficulties in getting visas for staff post-Brexit.
The post-Brexit trade deal sees British and EU businesses face no tariffs when sending goods in either direction, however they now encounter extensive paperwork and red tape.
Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that UK trade with EU countries has been falling at a faster rate than with non-EU countries.
A manufacturer in the East Midlands anonymously told the chambers of commerce that “Brexit has been the biggest ever imposition of bureaucracy on business” and that “importing of parts to fix broken machines or raw materials from the EU have become a major time-consuming nightmare for small businesses”.
Shevaun Haviland, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said that British businesses “want political leaders on both sides to move on from the debates of the past and find ways to trade more freely”.
“With a recession looming we must remove the shackles holding back our exporters so they can play their part in the UK’s economic recovery,” she said.
“If we don’t do this now then the long-term competitiveness of the UK could be seriously damaged. It is no coincidence that during the first 15 months of the TCA we stopped selling 42 per cent of all the different products that we used to.”
There were rumours recently that the government was looking at moving toward a Swiss-style deal with the EU to reduce trade barriers, however Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said definitively that this would not happen.
Labour has also said it would not renegotiate the UK-EU trade deal if it wins the next election.
A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office said: “The Trade and Cooperation Agreement is the world’s largest zero tariff, zero quota free trade deal. It secures the UK market access across key service sectors and opens new opportunities for UK businesses across the globe.
“Despite difficult global economic headwinds, UK-EU trade is rebounding, with recent data showing that UK trade to both EU and non-EU countries is above pre-COVID levels.”