Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Business

SME’s call for reforms to break ‘shackles’ of post-Brexit EU trade deal

by December 22, 2022
December 22, 2022
SME’s call for reforms to break ‘shackles’ of post-Brexit EU trade deal

Britain’s Brexit trade deal is failing to help more than three quarters of companies increase sales or grow their business, according to a new survey from a leading business group.

The Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) was settled on Christmas Eve 2020 to facilitate tariff-free trade with the EU. But a high proportion of firms are still having “major problems” trying to use the deal, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has found.

The business group, whose members employ almost six million people in the UK, has sent the government a report outlining a series of recommendations to increase UK-EU trade.

These include creating a supplementary deal with the EU that “either eliminates or reduces the complexity of exporting food” for SMEs; setting up another supplementary deal, this one similar to Norway’s, that exempts smaller firms from the requirement to have a fiscal representative for VAT in the EU; and allowing CE-marked goods and components, which are approved for sale in the EU, to continue to be used in Britain after 2024.

The BCC also wants side deals to be struck with the EU and member states to allow UK firms’ staff to travel for longer and work in Europe, and an agreement to be reached on the future of the Northern Ireland protocol with the European Commission early next year, to stabilise trading relations.

In the survey, 92 per cent of which were SMEs, 56 per cent said they face difficulties adapting to the new rules for trading goods.

Shevaun Haviland, the BCC’s director-general, said that with “a recession looming, we must remove the shackles holding back our exporters. 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 products that we used to.”

She added: “The longer the current problems go unchecked, the more EU traders go elsewhere, and the more damage is done. There are clearly some structural problems built into the TCA which cannot be addressed until it is reviewed in 2026. But there are some issues that do not need to wait on months of negotiations.”

Trade data from the Office for National Statistics last week showed that total exports of goods decreased by 4.7 per cent in October, with exports to both EU and non-EU countries falling.

One manufacturer in Dorset told the BCC that Brexit has been “the biggest-ever imposition of bureaucracy on business. Simple importing of parts to fix broken machines. The EU has become a time-consuming nightmare for small firms, and Brexit-related logistics delays are a massive cost when machines are stood waiting for parts.”

Parliamentary committees have been scrutinising the trade agreement.

MPs on the international trade committee are examining whether there is likely to be significant change to the terms of trade, whether they could be improved and what more the government could do to boost trade flows.

Jeremy Hunt last month ruled out changing the trade deal with the EU, after demands from business groups to make it easier to recruit staff from abroad and remove trade barriers.

A government spokesman said: “The TCA 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.

“The UK has provided exporters with practical support on the implementation of the TCA.”

Tim Goodall, Managing Director of small business www.islabikes.co.uk, spoke about how Brexit has affected the business’ sales and shipping, as well as its impact on long-term relationships and customer service, saying: “Pre-Brexit, sales of bikes to the EU accounted for just over a quarter (26%) of their annual sales, whereas year-to-date figures for 2022 show they accounted for just 5% (an 80% decline). Islabikes even stated that since the day the UK left the EU, their EU orders all but dried up, with prices to export rising exponentially for EU customers and the costs of import duty and shipping now being passed onto them.

“Import duty now sits at 14%, a massive shift compared to the lack of any import duty pre-Brexit, when there was free trade with the EU. The cost of exporting a bike then was between £35 and £50, depending on the size of bike and the country it was going to, but now it typically costs between £100 and £125, on average. Islabikes have to pass on these costs – duty and shipping – to their EU customers.

Read more:
SME’s call for reforms to break ‘shackles’ of post-Brexit EU trade deal

0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
UK borrowing hits record £22bn in November as debt interest bill jumps
next post
UK government pledges up to £4.5bn to fund Bulb takeover by Octopus

You may also like

Labour’s would recover Covid fraud billions if elected

October 9, 2023

Avalara Expands Partnership with Oracle NetSuite to Deliver...

October 17, 2023

Tripmates launches to simplify group trip planning and...

October 8, 2024

U.S. prevents Russian Deripaska from withdrawing $1.5 billion...

May 30, 2024

Why Custom Cardboard Boxes Are Essential for E-Commerce...

December 24, 2024

Skoda overtakes Tesla in Europe as EV buyers...

June 25, 2025

Ovo launches energy deal below government price cap

March 27, 2023

Aston Martin bleeding £1m a day as supply...

October 31, 2024

Developing leadership talent through extreme outdoor team building

July 17, 2024

50 Years in Business: Balancing Heritage and Legacy 

July 29, 2024

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • Elon Musk connects with indie Andrew Yang on billionaire former Trump ally’s third party push

      July 8, 2025
    • Data Security Posture Management – The Next Big Data Solution Your Business Needs (And How to Get Started)

      July 7, 2025
    • Bondi under siege after DOJ reveals no Epstein client list

      July 7, 2025
    • Over 158 million Americans voted in 2024 as Trump reclaimed the White House

      July 7, 2025
    • US ends terrorist designation of Syrian militant leaders

      July 7, 2025
    • Haitian Immigrants Have a Low Incarceration Rate

      July 7, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,410)
    • Investing (2,105)
    • Politics (15,958)
    • Stocks (3,192)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved