Six months in and UK businesses are still battling with Brexit

Six months in and UK businesses are still battling with Brexit

Almost a third of British companies that trade with the EU have suffered a decline or loss of business since post-Brexit rules took effect on January 1, according to a survey conducted for the Financial Times.

The survey, carried out by the Institute of Directors, also found that 17 per cent of UK companies that previously traded with the EU have stopped “” either temporarily or permanently “” since the start of the year.

The findings paint a bleak picture of trading arrangements with Europe, particularly for smaller businesses that do not have the resources to navigate the barriers to commerce thrown up by the UK's departure from the EU single market and customs union.

Six months after Brexit, companies reported they were continuing to wrestle with new red tape ushered in by the UK-EU trade and co-operation agreement. Although the Brexit deal, agreed on Christmas Eve, confirmed zero tariff, zero quota trading between Britain and the EU, the new arrangements require companies to comply with costly checks, customs controls and bureaucracy which have added friction to commerce.

Relations between the UK and the EU have also been soured over a new trade border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland which requires checks on