Brexit created ‘mind blowing' 2bn extra pieces of paperwork - enough to wrap around world 15 times
Brexit has created a 'mind blowing' nearly two billion extra pieces of paperwork for businesses - enough to wrap around the world 15 times.
If they were all laid end to end they would also reach to the moon and half way back again, an analysis of research by the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade by the Liberal Democrats found.
Lib Dem trade spokesperson Clive Jones said it showed the scale of red tape plaguing British businesses since the UK's withdrawal from Europe.
He said: 'The Conservatives' botched Brexit deal is suffocating businesses, tying them up in a Gordian Knot of red tape, as they try to export our fantastic British products and produce across the world. These figures are mind blowing.'
The party is calling on the government to negotiate a bespoke UK-EU customs union to free businesses from the bureaucracy – which has pushed up prices on the high street.
Marks & Spencer recently revealed that it has had to rent a warehouse just to store its piles of Brexit paperwork, that the retailer's chairman said 'nobody looked at in the first place'.
Archie Norman said ' it is quite extraordinary… you wouldn't believe it ' that the retailer has to store thousands of pages of documents in a warehouse in the Republic of Ireland for six years after taking food across the border.
The official Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) also estimates that the size of the economy over the long term will be four per cent smaller than it would have been without Brexit.
The Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade found an estimated 2 billion additional pieces of paper had been used by those exporting to the EU since the UK left the bloc.
The Liberal Democrat analysis also calculated that those extra pieces of paper would reach the height of Mount Everest 66,751 times over, have to be extracted from 248,603 trees and be worth £19.5 million in A4 paper alone.
But the party said the true cost could be higher as its analysis assumed that each piece of paper was printed just once.
Mr Jones said every second spent filling out the forms was 'time that these businesses could be using to think about expanding to help grow our economy. Which we all agree is very much needed.'
He added: 'The extra red tape created by the botched Brexit deal is adding more financial strain on businesses as they waste time fumbling through this tangled web of even more red tape.
'The Labour government cannot put its head in the sand and pretend that these barriers do not exist. It is time they face up to reality and realise that unless we put this extra burden of red tape on a bonfire we will not get the meaningful growth needed to rebuild our public services and protect people's finances. That means negotiating a bespoke UK-EU Customs Union by the end of the decade.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Guardian
33 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Royal Ascot backs next generation of hat-makers from King's charity
Ahead of this month's world-famous meet, known as much for its colourful and creative displays of headwear as the horseracing, Ascot has introduced a £10,000 annual bursary to support a King's Foundation and Chanel graduating millinery student. Daniel McAuliffe, education director at The King's Foundation said: 'The royal family are incredible ambassadors for the craft of millinery and as the King's charity we are proud to be supporting the future of this skill at the most iconic hat-wearing event of the year.' The Foundation's students will also be showcasing their hats at this year's Royal Ascot, which runs from June 17-21, with a special display for racegoers in the Queen Anne Enclosure on the Berkshire course. The Chanel and The King's Foundation Metiers d'Art Millinery Fellowship in Partnership with le19M, Chanel's creative hub for artisans in Paris, was launched in 2024 with a cohort of six students. The intensive programme aims to develop a network of young specialist milliners in the UK, with the support of Parisian hat-maker Maison Michel at le19M. It forms part of The King's Foundation's wider work, inspired by Charles's passion for protecting traditional heritage skills at risk of being lost. Future students joining the millinery course will also be tasked with designing a Royal Ascot-inspired hat, with one selected to feature in the Royal Ascot Millinery Collective from 2026 onwards as its 11th design. The collective, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, is an annual presentation of 10 bespoke designs created exclusively for Royal Ascot under the creative direction of British fashion designer Daniel Fletcher. Mr McAuliffe added: 'This is such a fantastic opportunity for our talented millinery students as they begin to build their businesses. 'We are delighted to be working with Ascot and our long-term partners Chanel and le19M to recognise the importance of the British tradition of millinery.' Felicity Barnard, Ascot Racecourse's chief executive, said: 'Exquisite hats and millinery masterpieces are woven into the very fabric of Royal Ascot's heritage and we are committed to preserving and celebrating this tradition for generations to come.'
BBC News
39 minutes ago
- BBC News
LTA promises equal prize money at Queen's by 2029
The LTA has pledged to introduce equal prize money at Queen's and Eastbourne by no later than total prize fund for the WTA event at Queen's Club - which begins on Monday - will be $1.415m (£1.043m), with the LTA voluntarily increasing the standard prize money by a that still comes nowhere near the amount the men will be paid for competing at the same venue the following prize money levels are set by the tours, and the ATP tournament will offer a total prize fund of 2.522m euros (£2.122m).Queen's Club is hosting a women's tournament for the first time since 1973, with Britons Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter set to compete. Both the men's and women's events are '500' category tournaments - the third-highest tier after the Grand Slams and Masters 1000 ATP event at Queen's has already sold out, while just over 80% of the tickets have so far been bought for the women's prices are lower in the WTA week, which will not yet be able to raise anything like the revenue of the long established men's spent on prize money cannot also be spent on developing grassroots tennis in the UK, and the LTA says the summer events lost a total of £4m last LTA's promise to introduce equal prize money by 2029 is four years before the deadline set by the WTA. While the WTA says major combined events should have equal prize money by 2027, standalone events - which the Queen's week technically is - have until is a combined '250' event, and will feature both men and women in the week before Wimbledon. The women's prize money is $389,000 (£286,650) - making it the highest-paying tournament of that size on the tour this year - while the men will share 756,875 euros (£637,000)."The LTA is committed to growing women's tennis, both at professional and grass-roots level and this move is an important part of that commitment," said LTA chief executive Scott Lloyd."This year fans will be able to enjoy both men's and women's tennis on the biggest stages that we can offer."We want to develop the tournaments so that the women's events deliver a path to profitability and greater visibility for the sport."
BBC News
39 minutes ago
- BBC News
Ex-world darts champion Rob Cross banned as director over taxes
Former world darts champion Rob Cross has been disqualified from acting as a company director for five years after his business failed to pay more than £450,000 in Insolvency Service said it also found the darts player withdrew more than £300,000 from Rob Cross Darts Limited between 2020 and 2023 that should have gone to ban prevents him from being involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the who previously lived in Hastings but was born in Pembury, Kent, has been contacted for a comment by the BBC. 'Directly impact funding' In an attempt to repay part of his debts, Cross has entered into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement, a legally binding agreement where he has committed to making regular payments to an insolvency practitioner. Rob Cross Darts Limited was set up in May 2017 for the darts player to receive his earnings and prize money, the government Insolvency Service said its investigations found the company received more than £1m from Mr Cross's earnings between the start of March 2020 and liquidation in November the time the company went into liquidation, it owed £403,896 in corporation tax, £49,071 in VAT and £12,436 in PAYE and National Insurance company had only paid £41,936 to HMRC between March 2020 and November 2023, the government said. Mr Cross's director's loan account was also overdrawn by £423,608 when the company went into liquidation with liabilities of £579, than £650,000 was also paid into the personal account of a connected party, the Insolvency Service Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) has also been contacted for a Read, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: "When directors fail to pay the correct amount of tax, it directly impacts the government's ability to fund vital public services such as the NHS, schools, transport infrastructure and our national defence."
