Labour urged to accelerate reset with Brussels as many exporters struggling to trade in the EU after Brexit deal
Keir Starmer’s government has been told a closer EU trade deal is a “strategic necessity” for companies in Britain as growing numbers of exporters find it tougher to do business under the UK’s post-Brexit agreement.
Calling on Labour to accelerate its reset with Brussels, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said the UK’s existing trade and cooperation agreement (TCA) was failing to help them grow their sales in the EU.
More than half (54%) of exporters in a survey of almost 1,000 businesses – the majority of which were small and medium-sized firms – said the trade deal negotiated by Boris Johnson’s government and enacted in 2021 was not helping them.
Highlighting an ongoing economic hit from Brexit, the BCC said this was a 13 percentage point increase from the proportion of firms that were unhappy in a similar survey a year earlier.
