UK goods exports to EU drop by £3bn since Brexit, research finds

Goods from Britain have faced EU controls since it left the bloc’s single market at the start of 2021, but the UK has repeatedly put off checks in the other direction.

The new border model was delayed five times due to inflationary fears, but finally started being implemented in January.

The new checks have hugely complicated trade between the UK and EU, resulting in a 16 per cent drop every year in UK food exports to EU countries since the end of the Brexit transition period, the report found.

The research shows that “in most areas, including pesticides and harmful substances, the EU has introduced stricter standards which the UK hasn’t matched”.

Mark English, a policy expert at the European Movement UK, said: “Post-Brexit reality means having to overcome massive complications to achieve advances that are small compared to the huge benefits of being in the single market and customs union.

“This is a very welcome report that shows both the potential benefits of a food safety agreement and the limits to those benefits, while highlighting the major trade-offs needed to negotiate such an agreement.”

Labour has long promised a veterinary deal, which would remove some of the requirements for businesses to acquire sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) certificates with each import and export.

It has been incorporated into Sir Keir Starmer’s reset of relations with the EU, ahead of a renegotiation of the post-Brexit trade deal next year.

Emma Knaggs, deputy chief executive at the European Movement UK, added: “The Government needs to negotiate a new SPS agreement with the EU that reduces the need for animal health checks and veterinary involvement, smooths trade across the Channel, and crucially, dramatically cuts the amount of post-Brexit red tape for UK exporters.

“Brexit has increased costs, spawned previously undreamt-of bureaucracy and seriously damaged trade.

“We hope this new government with its promises of a positive new relationship with the EU will do what's needed to help our exporters, and by doing so begin to address the damage that Brexit continues to wreak on the UK's economy."