Brexit ‘red tape’ slashes UK trading revenue with EU by £17 BILLION in just three months
Prophetic: I made this infographic in December 2020 – almost a year ago.
Remember when David Cameron – the architect of the EU membership referendum – said his Conservative-led government would ‘slash red tape’?
It’s almost funny, with hindsight.
Today we learned that the departure from the European Union that his referendum triggered has resulted in a loss of £17 billion in revenue to UK businesses, while they have been swamped in a quagmire of red tape that Brexit has created.
According to The London Economic:
Despite promises from the Leave campaign that red tape would fade after Britain quit the EU, UK companies have had to fill in an astonishing 48 million customs declarations and 140,000 export health certificates in the eight months since the UK quit the single market and customs union , according to the National Audit Office (NAO).
The NAO blamed Brexit for a sharp decline in trade between the UK and EU this year. “Total trade in goods between the UK and EU was 15 per cent (£17bn) less in Quarter 2 when compared with the equivalent quarter in 2018,” the watchdog’s report said.
An additional £600 million in costs has hit British importers since January according to HMRC data seen by The Guardian. The cause has been identified as Brexit, because the taxes were not required for EU imports when the Britain was in the single market.
But isn’t that the exact opposite of what Boris Johnson promised? Didn’t he say there would be no barriers to trade after Brexit?
Why, yes – yes he did:
Today we learn Brexit red tape has slashed £17 billion from UK trade with the EU in just three months as businesses struggle to keep up with new costs
Here is Boris Johnson selling his “oven ready” deal on the absolute promise there would be NO non-tariff barriers to trade! https://t.co/d9wVWHlZRF
— Peter Stefanovic (@PeterStefanovi2) November 5, 2021
In fairness, Cameron did cut a lot of “red tape”.
It turned out that these rules and regulations were necessary to keep us safe and secure in our workplaces and financial transactions. I’m sure you can think of your own examples.
Their loss has endangered us.
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