‘Same nightmare week after week’: UK firms fed up with post-Brexit EU trade

Mark Brearley of Kaymet, a manufacturer of tea trolleys, trays and hotplates, says leaving the EU has increased his costs and made selling goods abroad more difficult. Photograph: Federation of Small Businesses

Mark Brearley is still frustrated by Brexit. More than a year from Britain’s formal withdrawal from the EU, on terms agreed by Boris Johnson’s government, exporting the goods his company produces hasn’t got any easier for the London-based manufacturer.

Describing it as “the same nightmare week after week”, he says: “A lot more time is spent with things going wrong. The EU really feels like the hardest place in the world to ship things to sometimes.”