Brexit causing 'higher costs, red tape, delays' and more disruption likely, says UK report
The "only detectable impact" of Brexit on British businesses so far is "increased costs, paperwork and border delays", says the chair of a prominent parliamentary committee.
Just over a year since the UK's departure from the EU's trading structures, the Public Accounts Committee paints a less than rosy picture of the Brexit so vaunted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson — and warns that new border controls mean further disruption is likely.
Its report on UK-EU trade was published just hours after a minor government reshuffle saw prominent pro-Brexit MP Jacob Rees-Mogg appointed to the new role of "Minister for Brexit Opportunities".
"One of the great promises of Brexit was freeing British businesses to give them the headroom to maximise their productivity and contribution to the economy – even more desperately needed now on the long road to recovery from the pandemic," said committee chair Dame Meg Hillier of the opposition Labour Party.
"Yet the only detectable impact so far is increased costs, paperwork and border delays."
The post-Brexit trade deal the UK struck with the EU preserves market access for goods free of tariffs and quotas — but the UK's decision to leave the EU's Single Market and Customs Union has brought extra bureaucracy and costs for traders.
"It is clear that EU exit has had an impact, and that new border arrangements have added costs to business," says the MPs' report, acknowledging that trade volumes have also been suppressed by the coronavirus pandemic and "wider global pressures".
The committee, which monitors public spending, warns that higher passenger numbers resulting from the recovery from the pandemic, as well as new checks at ports, bring the potential for more border disruption. Long queues of
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