UK exports to EU plummet 68 percent since Brexit

The volume of goods exported through British ports to the EU plummeted by 68 percent last month compared with the year before, largely due to new paper work introduced since Brexit, according to new research.

The CEO of the Road Haulage Association (RHA) Richard Burnett told The Observer that in addition to the 68 percent drop in exports, around 65-75 percent of vehicles arriving from the EU were returning empty.

That’s because there were either no goods for them to return with due to hold-ups on the UK side or because some British companies had either temporarily or permanently stopped exports to the EU.

The figures are based on a survey of the RHA’s international members.

Burnett reported the drop in exports to cabinet office minister Michael Gove in a letter dated 1 February but said he has been largely ignored.

“I find it deeply frustrating and annoying that ministers have chosen not to listen to the industry and experts,” Burnett told The Observer.

“Michael Gove is the master of extracting information from you and giving nothing back. He responds on WhatsApp and says he got the letter but no written response comes. Pretty much every time we have written over the last six months he has not responded in writing.

“He tends to get officials to start working on things. But the responses are a complete waste of time because they don’t listen to what the issues were that we raised in the first place.”

The RHA has previously warned of an urgent need to increase the number of customs agents to help businesses with new paperwork that is necessary to complete post-Brexit.

The RHA said the current number of around 10,000 is about a fifth of what it needs to be.

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