Explainer-in-brief: Two years on, Brexit is still creating hurdles for businesses
Brexit is again in the spotlight – is anyone surprised? – as a new survey published this week found that more than three quarters of companies doing business with the EU think the deal is of no help in growing their economic activity. More than half of the British Chambers of Commerce members said they had problems complying with new exporting rules.
The farming minister Mark Spencer admitted yesterday that “there’s always more that we can do” to make trade easier, while Brexit enthusiast Jacob Rees-Mogg came out to defend the deal from any charge of having lowered the country’s GDP.
The fact that businesses are complaining about the red tape and a lack of clarity fits with a growing sense of uneasiness when it comes to Brexit. This year, companies in a variety of sectors seem to have realised that the “national potential” that Brexit was meant to unleash is instead, too often than not, being hampered by complications.
How to deal with this uneasiness will be a major question for both parties as they enter a new political year.