After Two Years, Uk Businesses Are Still Suffering From Brexit.
Business owners in the UK are still feeling the effects of Brexit two years after Britain left the European Union, even those who opted to sever relations with Brussels.
Adrian Hanrahan, CEO of the tiny chemicals business Robinson Brothers, situated in central England and for whom the EU is still a significant market, said, “It’s cost, cost, cost with no advantage.”
Customs fees, which have been virtually reduced by the post-Brexit free trade deal between London and Brussels, are not the issue; rather, it is a deluge of additional regulatory paperwork.
According to Hanrahan, “We’ve added maybe 25% more to our administrative expenses now simply to deal with the shifting paperwork… of bringing items in from the EU and out of the EU.”
The company, which has 265 employees, makes chemicals utilized by a variety of industries, including the food, electronics, pharmaceutical, and other businesses.
Over half of Robinson Brothers’ exports—roughly 70% of its total output—go to the EU.
According to the British Chambers of Commerce, 56 percent of UK firms are having trouble adjusting to new trade regulations, so the corporation is by no means the only one grappling with the effects of Brexit.
Businesses feel as like they are pounding their heads against a brick wall since nothing has been done to assist them, according to Shevaun Haviland, director general of the BCC.
“The more EU merchants move their business overseas, the more harm is done, the longer the existing issues continue unaddressed.”
The UK economy has reportedly entered a recession as a result of very high inflation, according to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s administration.
While the government often attributes the rise in energy prices on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many contend Brexit has also contributed to cost growth.
According to London School of Economics scholar Nikhil Datta, “there is solid causal evidence that the devaluation of sterling immediately after (the 2016 vote for) Brexit contributed to greater inflation, notably for products we import a lot of.”
New trade agreements, like the one reached with Australia, he said, “have been modest.”
Last month, Swati Dhingra, a member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy council, told lawmakers that Brexit was to blame for “a significantly larger slowdown in trade in the UK compared to the rest of the world.”
Jonathan Portes, an economist at King’s College London, claims that there is “reasonable agreement” that Brexit has decreased UK trade by 10 to 15% compared to a no-Brexit scenario.
According to the OBR, the government’s own economic forecasting agency, Brexit will cause a long-term 4% decline in the nation’s production.
– EU employees – The exodus of EU workers from industries including health, hospitality, and agriculture has complicated things.
