Impact of Brexit leads to 14% fall in UK exports to EU

theguardian.com:

The negative impact of Brexit on the UK’s trade with the European Union is starting to emerge with EU data showing that exports to the bloc declined by nearly 14% in 2021 compared to 2020, a senior official in Brussels has said.

Maroš Šefčovič, European Commission vice president and Brexit negotiator, said that even with the impact of the pandemic being taken into account, the increase in red tape since the transition period ended in January 2021 has taken its toll on trade in goods and services with the UK.

“One result of Brexit was the return of a customs border between the EU and Great Britain. This means paperwork for virtually every product shopping between our markets. It means checks on thousands of goods being carried out on a daily basis.

“Brexit has increased red tape not decreased it. It is no longer as frictionless and dynamic as before. This holds true for both goods and services,” he said.

The UK’s decision to choose a hard Brexit with the departure from the single market resulted in the loss of four freedoms to trade – labour, capital, goods and services.

Eurostat figures put imports to the EU from the UK falling from €169bn (£144bn) in 2020 to €146bn in 2021 – a drop of 13.6%.

When 2021 is compared with 2019, the drop is 25%.

Eurostat figures show services, also impacted by Brexit, fell by 7% in 2021 compared to 2019. This category includes everything from financial services to professional services such as architecture, marketing and accounting.

Šefčovič’s comments come just days after former Brexit minister Lord Frost said that anyone who says the departure from the bloc had hit the economy and trade had an “axe to grind”.

He told a conference that data used by the Office of Budget of Responsibility predicting