True cost of Brexit on UK trade revealed as calls to rejoin single market grow

Brexit is costing the UK £11.7bn a year in lost exports, stark new figures show, piling further pressure on Andy Burnham to rejoin the EU’s single market and customs union.

The damning findings by Logistics UK, which represents freight companies and is one of the largest trade associations in the UK, show that the loss in revenue compared with 2019 is worth £400 per household in the UK per year.

The organisation has called on the prime minister to push for greater alignment with EU regulations as campaign groups ramp up pressure to find a pathway for Britain back into the bloc.

It comes as a major new business survey by the European Movement UK has revealed that 72.8 per cent of firms say that Brexit has had a negative impact on their businesses, 96.4 per cent say it has had a negative impact on their communities, and 98.2 per cent want the UK to rejoin the EU’s single market.

Logistics UK head of trade James Mills, a former advisor on Labour’s Treasury team, said: “Greater trade matters because it is closely linked to productivity. It gives businesses access to larger markets, encourages investment and allows successful firms to specialise and grow. Yet Britain’s recent performance points in the wrong direction.”

He said there is “a huge prize” on economic growth to be had by fixing the loss in trade and noted that since the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016, UK goods exports by tonnage have fallen 20.7 per cent. Export volumes to the EU have fallen 15.9 per cent, while exports to the rest of the world have fallen 37.2 cent.

That’s despite promises of a trade boom with the rest of the world made by Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and other leading Brexiteers at the time of the referendum.

The findings emerged in a week where Mr Burnham disappointed many with his decision to stick to Keir Starmer’s red lines on Brexit and not rejoin the single market or customs union.

That is despite Labour MPs overwhelmingly being in favour of rejoining both and a vote being passed in the Commons supporting the move.

Mr Burnham has previously said he supports rejoining the EU and earlier this week promised to be “bolder” than Sir Keir in his forthcoming Brexit reset talks due to take place next month.

Mr Mills said unnecessary paperwork, border complexity and duplicated processes due to Brexit were making exporting harder and more expensive than it needs to be.

“At a time when finding sustainable ways to grow the economy is more important than ever, reducing those frictions is one of the clearest opportunities available. Fix how we trade, and we can help fix how we grow,” added.

Research published by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) last summer put the administrative burden of Britain's import and export declarations with the EU, which became necessary after Brexit, at £1.8bn in 2022 alone, across 38.6 million declarations. At HMRC's own timings of 19 to 28 minutes each, that is 15 million hours a year that could have been spent more productively.

Mike Galsworthy, chair of the European Movement UK, said: “The absolute killer on our businesses, large and small, is paperwork. What hurts is the sheer time, cost and risk of it.