Parliament’s influential Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has issued a report arguing that Brexit has meant a clear increase in costs, paperwork and border delays for UK businesses.
The report concedes that, since the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020, UK trade volumes been suppressed by the impact of Covid-19 and wider global pressures, but goes on to state that “it is clear that EU exit has had an impact, and that new border arrangements have added costs to business”.
EU Exit: UK Border Post Transition, available here, notes that the Government has ambitious plans to create “the most effective border in the world” by 2025, which includes plans to make it easier and simpler for traders to submit information on goods crossing the border.
“While this is a noteworthy ambition,” the Committee agrees, “it is optimistic, given where things stand today and we are not convinced that it is underpinned by a detailed plan to deliver it.”
If cross border passenger volumes, that have been at a fraction of normal levels because of Covid-19, recover as may be expected during 2022, there is potential for disruption at the border, exacerbated by further checks at ports as part of the EU’s new Entry and Exit system and especially at ports such as Dover where EU officials carry out border checks on the UK side.
The Committee’s chairwoman, Dame Meg Hillier, said: “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. Yet the only detectable impact so far is increased costs, paperwork and border delays.”
