Brexit at 10: Small businesses count the cost of barriers and delays

LONDON, June 20 — Ten years on from a referendum that triggered Britain’s exit from the European Union, the nation’s small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) find themselves caught between mountains of paperwork, rising costs and dashed expectations.

A study published last month by the Federation of Small Businesses found 63 per cent of UK SMEs trading with the European Union had faced “significant” trade barriers over the past 12 months.

A third of those surveyed plan to reduce or stop trading with the bloc under the current legal framework.

Four business leaders spoke to AFP about their experiences.

The specialist firm

“It’s still impacting us,” Rowan Crozier, head of Brandauer, which manufactures tiny metal components, said of Brexit.

“I did everything I could to try and persuade my staff that, for business reasons, it’s the wrong thing to do,” he added.

“If you look at the facts and figures, our lead times for all of our materials went up post-Brexit.”

Britain formally departed the EU at the start of the decade.

Before exiting, said Crozier, “we could expect a shipment to come from the UK to the EU or the other way around, and it would be 24, 48 hours. No problem.

“And now it’s at least a week.”

The company, based in Birmingham in central England, is one of a handful in the world working with metals around 0.05 millimetres thick.

“Our specialism, actually, has helped us to overcome some of the challenges that Brexit threw at us,” Crozier added.

The Brexit supporter

“I love Europe. The issue was with Brussels,” said Simon Boyd, head of Reidsteel, which builds steel structures such as warehouses, bridges, pylons and football stadiums.

“One of the big problems in Europe and with us ... is all the nonsense over carbon trading and carbon emissions.”

Boyd, a staunch Brexit supporter, was disappointed Britain had not gone further in loosening regulations inherited from the EU.

“The race to net zero here in the UK is suicidal.”

“Rather than reducing carbon into the atmosphere, we are increasing it by buying steel from countries outside the EU ... where the emissions are much higher.”

“Leaving the European Union hasn’t done us any harm, but it hasn’t given us the benefits that we were hoping to get.”

The Northern Irish case

“Any business wants to actually find itself in the best possible market with the best possible opportunity,” said Declan Gormley, head of ventilation systems manufacturer Brookvent.

“The European Union to me offered that pre-Brexit and it offers it post-Brexit.”

His company is headquartered in Northern Ireland, which has remained 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 since 2016 to now, we’ve seen a substantial growth in our European-wide business, but our business in the UK has basically remained static.”

“Northern Ireland is a benefactor of Brexit ... but my preference would have been if the UK in total would have stayed within the European community.”

‘No winners’

“There’s been no winners over 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’s no winner,” he added.

“It’s made life more challenging. I’ve got people doing more paperwork and all paperwork is a cost to the business,” said McKenna.

“It’s made plants more expensive by importing. So it’s made our product more expensive and more difficult for people to buy.”

“What I hope for, is what it was pre-vote: frictionless transport, working together with our European partners, taking down the borders, taking down the restrictions, working together instead of working against each other.” — AFP