[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Damien

Trade isn't just about tariffs though it's about regulatory alignment, customs checks and, in the specific case of the EU, workers' ability to move back and forth. We know the problems in Dover for example. The amount of red tape and paperwork added to trade increases time and cost.

As an example remember the arguments we had on here about Just in Time manufacturing. That doesn't hold if there are delays moving parts in/out of Britain.

A look at some of the headlines I'm reading today supports the points you're making:

Businesses 'banging their heads against a brick wall' over improving trade with EU, BCC warns

The BCC wants additional deals to made food exports easier more than two years after the Trade and Co-operation Agreement was signed.

Shevaun Haviland, director general of the BCC, said: "Businesses feel they are banging their heads against a brick wall as nothing has been done to help them, almost two years after the TCA was first agreed.

"The longer the current problems go unchecked, the more EU traders go elsewhere, and the more damage is done."

The BCC is calling for an additional deal with the EU to eliminate or reduce the complexity of food exports for small and medium-sized businesses, along with a Norway-style deal that would exempt small firms from needing a fiscal representative for VAT in the EU.

It is also calling for deals with the EU and member states that would allow UK firms to travel for longer and work in Europe.

https://news.sky.com/story/businesse...0is%20done.%22

Minister admits more needed to ease trade after damning Brexit business survey

There has not been much response from the government, but Mark Spencer, the farming minister, has been giving interviews and he told Times Radio this morning he claimed the government did want to reduce “red tape” for exporters to the EU. He said:

There’s always more that we can do to try and ease the way and the passage of trade. We’re very keen to do that. We’re a free and open trading nation, we want to work closely with our EU colleagues, and we want to try and reduce that red tape, if there is any red tape, on their side of the Channel. So, of course, we want to keep those channels of trade open in both directions.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...085ce9739c3875

These non-tariff barriers are likely to contribute heavily to this:

UK only G7 member with economic output still lower than pre-pandemic level

ONS says UK economy contracted by 0.3% in three months to September leading to weaker recovery than expected

https://www.theguardian.com/business...pandemic-level