The relief about the Brexit deal on Christmas Eve is now followed by disillusionment. Bureaucracy and customs formalities would have increased with the UK’s exit from the EU internal market to such an extent that a large number of companies had at least temporarily put their UK business on hold. According to an estimate by the British customs authorities, the additional bureaucracy costs around seven billion pounds annually, almost the amount that the UK has previously paid net into the EU coffers. (HB 19.01.21)
