Ten years after a referendum that triggered Britain’s exit from the European Union, the country’s small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) find themselves trapped between mountains of paperwork, rising costs and dashed expectations.
A study published last month by the Federation of Small Businesses found that 63% of UK SMEs trading with the European Union had faced “significant” trade barriers over the past 12 months.
A third of respondents plan to reduce or suspend trade with the bloc under the current legal framework.
Four business leaders spoke to AFP about their experiences.
The specialized firm
“It still affects us,” Rowan Crozier, director of Brandauer, which makes small metal components, said of Brexit.
“I did everything I could to try to persuade my staff that, for commercial reasons, it was not the right thing to do,” he added.
“If you look at the facts and figures, our lead times for all our materials increased after Brexit.”
Britain formally left the EU at the beginning of the decade.
Before leaving, Crozier said, “we could expect a shipment to arrive from the UK to the EU or the other way around, and it would be in 24 or 48 hours. No problem.”
“And now it’s at least a week.”
The company, based in Birmingham, central England, is one of the few in the world that works with metals around 0.05 millimeters thick.
“Our specialty has, in fact, helped us overcome some of the challenges that Brexit posed to us,” Crozier added.
The Brexit supporter
“I love Europe. The problem was with Brussels,” said Simon Boyd, director of Reidsteel, which builds steel structures such as warehouses, bridges, pylons and football stadiums.
“One of the big problems in Europe and in us… is all the nonsense about carbon trading and carbon emissions.”
Boyd, a strong Brexit supporter, was disappointed that Britain had not gone further in easing regulations inherited from the EU.
“The race to net zero here in the UK is suicidal.”
“Instead of reducing carbon in the atmosphere, we are increasing it by buying steel from countries outside the EU… where emissions are much higher.”
“Leaving the European Union has not done us any harm, but it has not given us the benefits we expected to obtain.”
The case of Northern Ireland
“Any company really wants to be in the best possible market and with the best possible opportunities,” said Declan Gormley, director of ventilation systems manufacturer Brookvent.
“The European Union offered me that before Brexit and offers it after Brexit.”
His company is based in Northern Ireland, which remains part of the European single market for physical goods to ensure it maintains an open border with EU member Ireland.
“The business has a foot in both camps,” spanning the UK and EU markets, he said.
“In the period from 2016 to now, we have seen substantial growth in our business across Europe, but our UK business has remained basically static.”
“Northern Ireland is a benefactor of Brexit… but my preference would have been for the UK as a whole to have remained within the European community.”
‘There are no winners’
“There have been no winners in the last 10 years,” said Richard McKenna, managing director of plant supplier Provender Nurseries in southeast England.
“The economy has suffered, the people have suffered. There is no winner,” he added.
“It’s made life more challenging. I have people doing more paperwork and all the paperwork is a cost to the business,” McKenna said.
“Importation has made plants more expensive. Therefore, our product is more expensive and more difficult for people to buy.”
“What I hope for is what it was before the vote: frictionless transport, working together with our European partners, removing borders, removing restrictions, working together instead of working against each other.”