UK Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday said that the new controls in place over the movements of goods created additional costs for businesses and affected international trade flow.
This followed the UK’s total withdrawal from the European Union in 2021.
In a report, committee chair Meg Hillier was quoted as saying “one of the great promises of Brexit was freeing British businesses to give them the headroom to maximise their productivity and contribution to the economy.
“Yet the only detectable impact so far is increased costs, paperwork and border delays.’’
The United Kingdom left the EU on Jan. 31, 2020, completing a three-and-a-half-year process that began with the 2016 Brexit referendum, and retaining many of the regional bloc’s laws.
On Dec. 31, 2020, the 11-month transition period ended and new requirements for passengers and for moving goods across the border came into force, while others were due to be phased in 2022.
According to the parliamentary committee, much remains to be done to ensure that traders and haulers across the 27 EU member states are ready as the controls are phased in.