Brexit LIVE: Liz Truss accused of major 'blunder' - error in small print may cost £35bn
Labour's Shadow Trade Secretary Emily Thornberry said clauses included in rollover trade deals with 23 countries including Canada, Switzerland, Norway and Singapore exclude manufacturers benefiting from freeport tax breaks. She claimed firms taking advantage of new freeport zones at East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe & Harwich, Humber, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth & South Devon, Solent, Thames and Teesside will now be forced to pay possible high tariffs on exports to these countries.
I’ve not commented on Brexit and the fallout for some time...particularly as like @Essexphil says...it was a democratic vote and we need to move on
However....all those fisherman/farmers who believed the rhetoric and frankly wanted their cake and eat it ( Europe can’t fish in our waters, but please carryon and buying 80+% of the UK catches...please)
My mates a sheep farmer, voted Brexit( had an EU grant that paid his annual rent) , has seen the price of lamb decrease, his EU market disappear and his expectations that the UK market would absorb the lamb even though it was much more expensive than the NZ options....talk about shagginghimself
I think that many people that voted for Brexit, were not expecting the Brexit deal that Boris negotiated. Some of the current problems were predictable. What were people expecting from the Customs Border in the Irish Sea? After stopping freedom of movement, who did they think would be picking the fruit etc? All the regulations are not in place yet, so it is likely to get worse, when they finally are. The point for me is that the difficulties we now have are difficulties that Boris agreed to.
The Financial Times reports the cabinet is split by a "ferocious" fight over whether to sign off a trade deal with Australia. It says the debate is over whether to grant zero-tariff access to Australian farmers - and risk a backlash from the UK farming industry.
Allowing tariff-free imports of Australian lamb and beef, it reports, would "land hardest" in rural areas such as Scottish and Welsh hill farms.
It's a "100-million-dollar question", one government official has told the paper - with the Environment Secretary George Eustice, and his predecessor, Michael Gove on one side of the issue, and the International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss, and the Brexit negotiator, Lord Frost, on the other.
The Guardian has a front-page story that the Home Office is writing to British citizens with dual EU citizenship, warning them - in error - that they need to apply for settled status.
It says people who've been here for decades have "expressed alarm" at being told they could lose the right to work, benefits, and free healthcare - unless they apply for UK immigration status in the next six weeks.
The Home Office tells the paper that in trying to contact "as many people as possible" about settled status, there may be "a small number of cases" where letters have been sent to someone who's already naturalised as a British citizen. In such cases, it says, no action is required.
Brexit: Ministers in ‘ferocious row’ over terms of UK-Australia deal as farming industry warns of ‘complete betrayal’
Ministers have been involved in a “ferocious” row over the possible terms of a new UK-Australia deal, amid warnings British farming could suffer “irreversible damage” as a result of the eventual agreement.
According to reports, the division in government centres on whether to grant tariff-free access to Australian farmers – something favoured by both the international trade secretary Liz Truss and Brexit minister Lord David Frost.
However, the environment secretary George Eustice and the Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove are said to have warned against the domestic political fallout of agreeing to such terms and a backlash from the farming industry.
“There is an absolutely ferocious row going on in Whitehall over the Australia deal with real pressure to get it resolved by the end of this week. Gove and Eustice are on one side, Truss and Frost on the other,” a source told the Financial Times.
Boris Johnson backs tariff-free access to UK food markets for Australia - despite warnings cheap imports could 'wipe out agriculture as we know it'
Liz Truss is believed to have the backing of Boris Johnson, who is eager in principle for a comprehensive agreement to be reached as soon as next month, it is understood.
EU to ask UK to respect citizens’ rights after mistreatment scandals
UK Covid LIVE: Don’t go on holiday to an amber list country, Boris Johnson… LSO/Rattle review – a spine-tingling reminder of the live sounds we have missed
EU leaders will call on Boris Johnson to respect the rights of their citizens in the wake of scandals over their treatment in the UK, including their detention in removal centres, according to a leaked draft statement seen by the Guardian.
The Guardian has reported on a series of cases where long-term British citizens, including dual nationals, have received letters sent in error by the Home Office instructing them of the risk of losing the right to work, benefits and free healthcare unless they apply for UK immigration status within weeks.
There have in addition been testimonies from EU nationals with job interviews in the UK who say they were denied entry, locked up and forced to endure the traumatic and humiliating experience of expulsion, despite Home Office rules explicitly allowing non-visa holders to enter in such circumstances.
"UK in farm's way" is the Daily Mirror's take on the government's plans for a free trade deal with Australia. It says producers here fear the agreement could see a flood of cheap and inferior food imports.
To further underline their fears, Australia's biggest beef exporter is quoted in the Financial Times as saying a zero-tariff, zero-quota deal could boost its UK sales "tenfold".
But the Sun says Boris Johnson will sign off on the deal, which will include a 15-year transition to allow British farmers to adjust.
At the risk of being labelled shortsighted, I like many others are still waiting for the effects of brexit to impact my everyday life.
My trips to the offy, the kebab shop and the chippy cost no more. The fuel my car uses is actually cheaper at £1.18, clothes and supermarket costs haven't increased and it would appear that the banks have not collapsed taking the money with them.
So for me and presumably millions like me the only effects of brexit are...... there are no effects.
In fact, whisper it quietly, it would appear the effects on the other side of The English Channel are causing consternation and alarm.
At the risk of being labelled shortsighted, I like many others are still waiting for the effects of brexit to impact my everyday life.
My trips to the offy, the kebab shop and the chippy cost no more. The fuel my car uses is actually cheaper at £1.18, clothes and supermarket costs haven't increased and it would appear that the banks have not collapsed taking the money with them.
So for me and presumably millions like me the only effects of brexit are...... there are no effects.
In fact, whisper it quietly, it would appear the effects on the other side of The English Channel are causing consternation and alarm.
At the risk of being labelled shortsighted, I like many others are still waiting for the effects of brexit to impact my everyday life.
My trips to the offy, the kebab shop and the chippy cost no more. The fuel my car uses is actually cheaper at £1.18, clothes and supermarket costs haven't increased and it would appear that the banks have not collapsed taking the money with them.
So for me and presumably millions like me the only effects of brexit are...... there are no effects.
In fact, whisper it quietly, it would appear the effects on the other side of The English Channel are causing consternation and alarm.
I am sure that there are many people that havent been affected yet, but may be affected in the future. I dont know why you thought a leave vote may have affected your kebab. The obvious thing that affects taxpayers is that Brexit will have an adverse effect on UK GDP. This usually means that the taxpayer will be asked to fill the hole.
Here are some other effects.
1. Fishing communities are facing ruin Fishermen who export to the EU have been battered by red tape since new rules took force on January 1.
Fish and meat are much more complex than most exports because they need to meet rules on “products of animal origin”.
Exporters must fill out an Export Health Certificate and have their goods checked at an EU Border Control Post.
Chilled mince and sausages are banned from export completely - so it’s the ultra-perishable fishing industry that’s in the spotlight.
The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations say the first consignments to Calais hit a “brick wall of bureaucracy”.
And Scottish Food and Drink shared grim pictures of an almost empty Peterhead fish market in Aberdeenshire in January.
The government has opened a £23m compensation fund for those hit, worth up to £100,000 per fisherman. But industry chiefs say the rules are baffling and it’ll be hard for boat owners to prove their losses off, say, the back of a phone call.
James Withers, of Scottish Food and Drink, told Parliament the £23m is “massively welcome” but the seafood business has lost around £1million a day - “you can quickly work out how soon that runs out”.
Separately Boris Johnson has pledged £100m to help the industry, but Jimmy Buchan of the Scottish Seafood Association said last week: "We are now in week 5 and no one knows who or where that is going to."
2. Some shellfish exports to the EU are banned completely
As if this wasn’t bad enough, some shellfish exports are banned completely due to a legal dispute between the UK and EU.
Ministers confirmed there is a total ban on certain types of mollusc from ‘Class B’ waters around the UK being sent to the EU.
Waters around Wales and South West England are affected, with exports of mussels, oysters, clams and cockles all hit.
Environment Secretary George Eustice insisted the EU had promised no such ban would apply in September 2019 - only to then impose it after Brexit took force.
He said the EU have “changed their position” and there was “no legal justification for a bar on this trade”, adding: “We do believe the EU have simply made an error in the interpretation of the law”.
But SNP MP Deidre Brock said “Will the government accept that the fault and the blame lie with them - it’s because they made a b*****ks of Brexit.”
One firm in Bridlington, Baron Shellfish, is shutting its doors after 40 years.
Sam Baron, who took over the business from his father, told HullLive Boris Johnson had not done enough. He said dealing with new paperwork and declarations was "like playing Russian roulette with five bullets in your gun".
3. Port workers in Northern Ireland face threats - and a shaky future Post-Brexit checks on goods were suspended in Northern Ireland last week after "sinister and menacing" threats - including graffiti and reports of intelligence-gathering on port inspectors.
Since January 1, inspectors have had to check some goods arriving from Britain to Northern Ireland's ports.
That is because Northern Ireland follows EU single market rules, and must also apply some EU customs checks on arriving British goods.
Unionists say this is effectively a border across the Irish Sea - something Boris Johnson promised would never happen due to Brexit.
Inspections at Larne and Belfast ports were suspended last Monday after threatening loyalist behaviour.
And things may worsen when “grace periods” - which currently prevent checks on a lot of food heading to Northern Ireland - expire in April and July.
As recently as January 20, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said it wasn’t his intention to extend these grace periods.
He insisted empty shelves in Northern Ireland’s supermarkets were caused by Covid, not Brexit - a claim rejected by the DUP, UUP and SDLP.
Yet on February 3, just two weeks later, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove announced a plea to extend them to 2023.
The EU hasn’t yet accepted the UK’s plea, and Mr Gove is meeting his counterpart Maros Sefcovic tonight for crunch talks.
4. There’s a furious diplomatic row over… diplomats
5. Online shopping from the EU has got more expensive There has been a flood of Brits ordering goods online from the EU - only to find they are more expensive.
One woman told the BBC her £150 pair of boots from France came with £78 of taxes and duties on top.
Another spent £600 on two handbags - only to be charged an extra £123 on arrival.
At the moment the extra costs appear to be because of changes to VAT rules due to Brexit. Goods costing more than £135 now have the VAT applied when they reach the UK.
Sellers may also be charging more for paperwork. This bit might get worse over time as the UK is phasing in its customs rules on imports, while the EU has applied its rules on UK exports straight away.
It isn’t just purchases that come with a surprise price tag - gifts from EU friends and family now have that burden too.
One woman told the BBC she had to pay £30 in taxes on a pair of earrings gifted to her by a friend in Greece.
Under post-Brexit rules you pay VAT on gifts worth more than £39 on arrival in the UK.
6. Amsterdam has overtaken London as the world's trading hub Amsterdam overtook London as the largest financial trading centre in Europe in January as Brexit-related changes to finance rules came into force.
An average of 9.2 billion euros (£8.1 billion) worth of shares were traded on Euronext Amsterdam, alongside Dutch divisions of CBOE Europe and the Turquoise exchange in January, according to data from CBOE Europe first reported by the Financial Times.
Following the end of the Brexit transition period, US banks wanting to buy European stocks would no longer be able to trade via London.
The Turquoise trading platform, owned by the London Stock Exchange Group, had already moved to the Netherlands, and follows around 7,000 jobs that have shifted in the financial sector from the UK to the EU since the referendum.
Reasons for the shift include the EU saying it does not recognise UK exchanges as having the same levels of supervisory status as its counterparts in the Netherlands, France and Germany.
Without an "equivalence" deal being struck, around 6.5 billion euros (£5.7 billion) of deals shifted overnight to the EU - including the fees that come with them.
7. UK businesses are finding it harder While we haven’t seen massive queues of trucks at the border (more below), and that's a big relief, it’s still become harder to sell to the EU.
In fact, critics fear looking at trucks on the roads is a distraction because the real story may be in the goods that are no longer there at all.
Large firms can afford to deal with the paperwork of exporting to the EU, but some smaller ones cannot.
Even David Cameron’s wife Samantha admits her fashion business has been hit by “frustrating teething issues”.
“If you're bringing goods into the country from outside the UK, and then trying to sell them back into Europe – that currently is challenging and difficult,” she told the BBC last month.
The Road Haulage Association estimates the volume of exports through British ports to the EU was down 68% in January 2021 from January 2020.
While some of this will be due to coronavirus, the RHA has pointed to Brexit. Spokesman Duncan Buchanan told the Mirror: “There is a permanent reduction in trade.
“There are goods that will no longer be able to be exported commercially because you will no longer be able to make a profit given the increased cost of customs processes.”
8. More than half of trucks are crossing empty At least half of trucks that come from Europe to the UK are being sent back again empty.
UK officials admit the number of HGVs crossing the Channel from Britain carrying only ‘fresh air’ has risen since customs declarations were slapped on exports from January 1.
But there is a row over the figures, which are not officially published by the government.
By the end of January, government officials believed the figure had risen to about 50% from a normal rate of about 40%.
But the Road Haulage Association believes the normal rate is more like 18%, and the current rate of empties could be as high as 75%.
The RHA told the Mirror demand for carrying exports had plunged as some firms find the paperwork unaffordable. In other cases, exports take more time to sign off and hauliers “can’t wait” for them to be ready.
9. Workers’ rights ‘came under threat’ The ink was barely dry on the Free Trade Agreement when the Tories became embroiled in a row over workers’ rights related to Brexit.
Ministers faced fury at proposals to look at the 48-hour working week cap and rules for factoring overtime into holiday pay.
BEIS officials had been looking at the "whole body of EU law", including employment law and labour markets, and how it might be changed after Brexit.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng later said he had told officials to stop the work in a U-turn, after a major backlash.
"I made it very very clear to officials in the department that we're not interested in watering down worker's rights,” he said.
But despite his cast-iron pledges not to hurt workers' rights some have fears for the future. Boris Johnson deliberately secured a Brexit deal in which the UK will have freedom to set its own labour laws - though the EU can take action if they undercut businesses on the Continent.
10. Musicians are angry at red tape Covid has of course made tours to Europe a bit of a hypothetical problem.
But when the virus finally recedes there will be a big problem of red tape - and it's already reared its head in ways that weren't widely predicted.
Sir Elton John, Roger Waters and Ed Sheeran are among leading music industry figures who slammed the Government’s Brexit deal for not including visa-free travel for musicians.
More than 100 stars, from pop singers to classical composers, signed a letter saying performers have been “shamefully failed” by the post-Brexit travel rules.
The UK government rejected the prospect of a “waiver” but said the door was open in future.
But none of the above is the harbinger of doom promised by ardent Remainers though, is it?
Fishermen continue to moan, as do millionaire pop singers. But if you are an ordinary guy living in Stoke, or Essex, or Wales, not much has changed. And what has changed is very difficult to tell what impact is Brexit, what Covid, and what chancers taking advantage.
But none of the above is the harbinger of doom promised by ardent Remainers though, is it?
Fishermen continue to moan, as do millionaire pop singers. But if you are an ordinary guy living in Stoke, or Essex, or Wales, not much has changed. And what has changed is very difficult to tell what impact is Brexit, what Covid, and what chancers taking advantage.
Loads of fishermen voted leave to benefit from the promised improvements. Farmers will probably continue to suffer from staff shortages in regard to picking their crops, and may go out of business through Australian/New Zealand trade deals. Millionaire musicians employ many ordinary people for their tours. I am unsure how long it will take to see the full effects. The one thing that will affect all of us, is that as tax payers we are likely to be expected to fill the hole in our economy that was created by Brexit. I still think that Brexit will cause the break up of the UK, which will be sad. Although a United Ireland probably wouldnt solve the Irish border problems.
While typing this the Boris stupid argument that we are stronger together when it comes to the UK, but not when it comes to the EU, is ringing in my ears.
British farmers are worried about competing with cheap foreign imports, such as beef
What's the problem? An ambitious deal with Australia could see some shop prices fall slightly, because food in the UK is often produced at higher standards and cost.
But this prospect of cheap foreign imports has led National Farmers Union president Minette Batters to warn of the "slow, withering death of family farms" in the UK, if the wrong deal is struck.
NFU president Minette Batters has warned farmers would struggle if the wrong deal is struck
Critics of the rapid removal of tariffs and quotas also point out a deal with Australia would increase the size of the British economy by only about 0.02% over 15 years.
And if Australia is offered generous terms, they say, other bigger economies - such as the US and Brazil - will want at least as good a deal in the future. So it sets an important precedent.
But none of the above is the harbinger of doom promised by ardent Remainers though, is it?
Fishermen continue to moan, as do millionaire pop singers. But if you are an ordinary guy living in Stoke, or Essex, or Wales, not much has changed. And what has changed is very difficult to tell what impact is Brexit, what Covid, and what chancers taking advantage.
Comments
Labour's Shadow Trade Secretary Emily Thornberry said clauses included in rollover trade deals with 23 countries including Canada, Switzerland, Norway and Singapore exclude manufacturers benefiting from freeport tax breaks. She claimed firms taking advantage of new freeport zones at East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe & Harwich, Humber, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth & South Devon, Solent, Thames and Teesside will now be forced to pay possible high tariffs on exports to these countries.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/brexit-live-liz-truss-accused-of-major-blunder-error-in-small-print-may-cost-35bn/ar-BB1gyBtF?ocid=msedgntp
Some of the current problems were predictable.
What were people expecting from the Customs Border in the Irish Sea?
After stopping freedom of movement, who did they think would be picking the fruit etc?
All the regulations are not in place yet, so it is likely to get worse, when they finally are.
The point for me is that the difficulties we now have are difficulties that Boris agreed to.
The Financial Times reports the cabinet is split by a "ferocious" fight over whether to sign off a trade deal with Australia. It says the debate is over whether to grant zero-tariff access to Australian farmers - and risk a backlash from the UK farming industry.
Allowing tariff-free imports of Australian lamb and beef, it reports, would "land hardest" in rural areas such as Scottish and Welsh hill farms.
It's a "100-million-dollar question", one government official has told the paper - with the Environment Secretary George Eustice, and his predecessor, Michael Gove on one side of the issue, and the International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss, and the Brexit negotiator, Lord Frost, on the other.
The Guardian has a front-page story that the Home Office is writing to British citizens with dual EU citizenship, warning them - in error - that they need to apply for settled status.
It says people who've been here for decades have "expressed alarm" at being told they could lose the right to work, benefits, and free healthcare - unless they apply for UK immigration status in the next six weeks.
The Home Office tells the paper that in trying to contact "as many people as possible" about settled status, there may be "a small number of cases" where letters have been sent to someone who's already naturalised as a British citizen. In such cases, it says, no action is required.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-57152399
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/amol-rajan-dubbed-remain-poster-brilliant-it-may-have-kept-britain-in-europe/ar-BB1gPxPi?ocid=msedgntp#image=3
Ministers have been involved in a “ferocious” row over the possible terms of a new UK-Australia deal, amid warnings British farming could suffer “irreversible damage” as a result of the eventual agreement.
According to reports, the division in government centres on whether to grant tariff-free access to Australian farmers – something favoured by both the international trade secretary Liz Truss and Brexit minister Lord David Frost.
However, the environment secretary George Eustice and the Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove are said to have warned against the domestic political fallout of agreeing to such terms and a backlash from the farming industry.
“There is an absolutely ferocious row going on in Whitehall over the Australia deal with real pressure to get it resolved by the end of this week. Gove and Eustice are on one side, Truss and Frost on the other,” a source told the Financial Times.
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/brexit-ministers-divided-ferocious-row-093750254.html
Liz Truss is believed to have the backing of Boris Johnson, who is eager in principle for a comprehensive agreement to be reached as soon as next month, it is understood.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9593771/Boris-Johnson-backs-tariff-free-access-UK-food-markets-Australia.html
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/don-t-need-eu-tory-mp-vows-to-boycott-european-holidays-after-trade-deal-chaos/ar-BB1gTutS?ocid=msedgntp
UK Covid LIVE: Don’t go on holiday to an amber list country, Boris Johnson…
LSO/Rattle review – a spine-tingling reminder of the live sounds we have missed
EU leaders will call on Boris Johnson to respect the rights of their citizens in the wake of scandals over their treatment in the UK, including their detention in removal centres, according to a leaked draft statement seen by the Guardian.
The Guardian has reported on a series of cases where long-term British citizens, including dual nationals, have received letters sent in error by the Home Office instructing them of the risk of losing the right to work, benefits and free healthcare unless they apply for UK immigration status within weeks.
There have in addition been testimonies from EU nationals with job interviews in the UK who say they were denied entry, locked up and forced to endure the traumatic and humiliating experience of expulsion, despite Home Office rules explicitly allowing non-visa holders to enter in such circumstances.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/eu-to-ask-uk-to-respect-citizens-rights-after-mistreatment-scandals/ar-BB1gTT3s?ocid=msedgntp
"UK in farm's way" is the Daily Mirror's take on the government's plans for a free trade deal with Australia. It says producers here fear the agreement could see a flood of cheap and inferior food imports.
To further underline their fears, Australia's biggest beef exporter is quoted in the Financial Times as saying a zero-tariff, zero-quota deal could boost its UK sales "tenfold".
But the Sun says Boris Johnson will sign off on the deal, which will include a 15-year transition to allow British farmers to adjust.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-57195636
My trips to the offy, the kebab shop and the chippy cost no more. The fuel my car uses is actually cheaper at £1.18, clothes and supermarket costs haven't increased and it would appear that the banks have not collapsed taking the money with them.
So for me and presumably millions like me the only effects of brexit are...... there are no effects.
In fact, whisper it quietly, it would appear the effects on the other side of The English Channel are causing consternation and alarm.
I dont know why you thought a leave vote may have affected your kebab.
The obvious thing that affects taxpayers is that Brexit will have an adverse effect on UK GDP.
This usually means that the taxpayer will be asked to fill the hole.
Here are some other effects.
1. Fishing communities are facing ruin
Fishermen who export to the EU have been battered by red tape since new rules took force on January 1.
Fish and meat are much more complex than most exports because they need to meet rules on “products of animal origin”.
Exporters must fill out an Export Health Certificate and have their goods checked at an EU Border Control Post.
Chilled mince and sausages are banned from export completely - so it’s the ultra-perishable fishing industry that’s in the spotlight.
The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations say the first consignments to Calais hit a “brick wall of bureaucracy”.
And Scottish Food and Drink shared grim pictures of an almost empty Peterhead fish market in Aberdeenshire in January.
The government has opened a £23m compensation fund for those hit, worth up to £100,000 per fisherman. But industry chiefs say the rules are baffling and it’ll be hard for boat owners to prove their losses off, say, the back of a phone call.
James Withers, of Scottish Food and Drink, told Parliament the £23m is “massively welcome” but the seafood business has lost around £1million a day - “you can quickly work out how soon that runs out”.
Separately Boris Johnson has pledged £100m to help the industry, but Jimmy Buchan of the Scottish Seafood Association said last week: "We are now in week 5 and no one knows who or where that is going to."
2. Some shellfish exports to the EU are banned completely
As if this wasn’t bad enough, some shellfish exports are banned completely due to a legal dispute between the UK and EU.
Ministers confirmed there is a total ban on certain types of mollusc from ‘Class B’ waters around the UK being sent to the EU.
Waters around Wales and South West England are affected, with exports of mussels, oysters, clams and cockles all hit.
Environment Secretary George Eustice insisted the EU had promised no such ban would apply in September 2019 - only to then impose it after Brexit took force.
He said the EU have “changed their position” and there was “no legal justification for a bar on this trade”, adding: “We do believe the EU have simply made an error in the interpretation of the law”.
But SNP MP Deidre Brock said “Will the government accept that the fault and the blame lie with them - it’s because they made a b*****ks of Brexit.”
One firm in Bridlington, Baron Shellfish, is shutting its doors after 40 years.
Sam Baron, who took over the business from his father, told HullLive Boris Johnson had not done enough. He said dealing with new paperwork and declarations was "like playing Russian roulette with five bullets in your gun".
3. Port workers in Northern Ireland face threats - and a shaky future
Post-Brexit checks on goods were suspended in Northern Ireland last week after "sinister and menacing" threats - including graffiti and reports of intelligence-gathering on port inspectors.
Since January 1, inspectors have had to check some goods arriving from Britain to Northern Ireland's ports.
That is because Northern Ireland follows EU single market rules, and must also apply some EU customs checks on arriving British goods.
Unionists say this is effectively a border across the Irish Sea - something Boris Johnson promised would never happen due to Brexit.
Inspections at Larne and Belfast ports were suspended last Monday after threatening loyalist behaviour.
And things may worsen when “grace periods” - which currently prevent checks on a lot of food heading to Northern Ireland - expire in April and July.
As recently as January 20, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said it wasn’t his intention to extend these grace periods.
He insisted empty shelves in Northern Ireland’s supermarkets were caused by Covid, not Brexit - a claim rejected by the DUP, UUP and SDLP.
Yet on February 3, just two weeks later, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove announced a plea to extend them to 2023.
The EU hasn’t yet accepted the UK’s plea, and Mr Gove is meeting his counterpart Maros Sefcovic tonight for crunch talks.
4. There’s a furious diplomatic row over… diplomats
5. Online shopping from the EU has got more expensive
There has been a flood of Brits ordering goods online from the EU - only to find they are more expensive.
One woman told the BBC her £150 pair of boots from France came with £78 of taxes and duties on top.
Another spent £600 on two handbags - only to be charged an extra £123 on arrival.
At the moment the extra costs appear to be because of changes to VAT rules due to Brexit. Goods costing more than £135 now have the VAT applied when they reach the UK.
Sellers may also be charging more for paperwork. This bit might get worse over time as the UK is phasing in its customs rules on imports, while the EU has applied its rules on UK exports straight away.
It isn’t just purchases that come with a surprise price tag - gifts from EU friends and family now have that burden too.
One woman told the BBC she had to pay £30 in taxes on a pair of earrings gifted to her by a friend in Greece.
Under post-Brexit rules you pay VAT on gifts worth more than £39 on arrival in the UK.
6. Amsterdam has overtaken London as the world's trading hub
Amsterdam overtook London as the largest financial trading centre in Europe in January as Brexit-related changes to finance rules came into force.
An average of 9.2 billion euros (£8.1 billion) worth of shares were traded on Euronext Amsterdam, alongside Dutch divisions of CBOE Europe and the Turquoise exchange in January, according to data from CBOE Europe first reported by the Financial Times.
Following the end of the Brexit transition period, US banks wanting to buy European stocks would no longer be able to trade via London.
The Turquoise trading platform, owned by the London Stock Exchange Group, had already moved to the Netherlands, and follows around 7,000 jobs that have shifted in the financial sector from the UK to the EU since the referendum.
Reasons for the shift include the EU saying it does not recognise UK exchanges as having the same levels of supervisory status as its counterparts in the Netherlands, France and Germany.
Without an "equivalence" deal being struck, around 6.5 billion euros (£5.7 billion) of deals shifted overnight to the EU - including the fees that come with them.
7. UK businesses are finding it harder
While we haven’t seen massive queues of trucks at the border (more below), and that's a big relief, it’s still become harder to sell to the EU.
In fact, critics fear looking at trucks on the roads is a distraction because the real story may be in the goods that are no longer there at all.
Large firms can afford to deal with the paperwork of exporting to the EU, but some smaller ones cannot.
Even David Cameron’s wife Samantha admits her fashion business has been hit by “frustrating teething issues”.
“If you're bringing goods into the country from outside the UK, and then trying to sell them back into Europe – that currently is challenging and difficult,” she told the BBC last month.
The Road Haulage Association estimates the volume of exports through British ports to the EU was down 68% in January 2021 from January 2020.
While some of this will be due to coronavirus, the RHA has pointed to Brexit. Spokesman Duncan Buchanan told the Mirror: “There is a permanent reduction in trade.
“There are goods that will no longer be able to be exported commercially because you will no longer be able to make a profit given the increased cost of customs processes.”
8. More than half of trucks are crossing empty
At least half of trucks that come from Europe to the UK are being sent back again empty.
UK officials admit the number of HGVs crossing the Channel from Britain carrying only ‘fresh air’ has risen since customs declarations were slapped on exports from January 1.
But there is a row over the figures, which are not officially published by the government.
By the end of January, government officials believed the figure had risen to about 50% from a normal rate of about 40%.
But the Road Haulage Association believes the normal rate is more like 18%, and the current rate of empties could be as high as 75%.
The RHA told the Mirror demand for carrying exports had plunged as some firms find the paperwork unaffordable. In other cases, exports take more time to sign off and hauliers “can’t wait” for them to be ready.
9. Workers’ rights ‘came under threat’
The ink was barely dry on the Free Trade Agreement when the Tories became embroiled in a row over workers’ rights related to Brexit.
Ministers faced fury at proposals to look at the 48-hour working week cap and rules for factoring overtime into holiday pay.
BEIS officials had been looking at the "whole body of EU law", including employment law and labour markets, and how it might be changed after Brexit.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng later said he had told officials to stop the work in a U-turn, after a major backlash.
"I made it very very clear to officials in the department that we're not interested in watering down worker's rights,” he said.
But despite his cast-iron pledges not to hurt workers' rights some have fears for the future. Boris Johnson deliberately secured a Brexit deal in which the UK will have freedom to set its own labour laws - though the EU can take action if they undercut businesses on the Continent.
10. Musicians are angry at red tape
Covid has of course made tours to Europe a bit of a hypothetical problem.
But when the virus finally recedes there will be a big problem of red tape - and it's already reared its head in ways that weren't widely predicted.
Sir Elton John, Roger Waters and Ed Sheeran are among leading music industry figures who slammed the Government’s Brexit deal for not including visa-free travel for musicians.
More than 100 stars, from pop singers to classical composers, signed a letter saying performers have been “shamefully failed” by the post-Brexit travel rules.
The UK government rejected the prospect of a “waiver” but said the door was open in future.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/10-real-life-brexit-consequences-23482214
Fishermen continue to moan, as do millionaire pop singers. But if you are an ordinary guy living in Stoke, or Essex, or Wales, not much has changed. And what has changed is very difficult to tell what impact is Brexit, what Covid, and what chancers taking advantage.
Farmers will probably continue to suffer from staff shortages in regard to picking their crops, and may go out of business through Australian/New Zealand trade deals.
Millionaire musicians employ many ordinary people for their tours.
I am unsure how long it will take to see the full effects.
The one thing that will affect all of us, is that as tax payers we are likely to be expected to fill the hole in our economy that was created by Brexit.
I still think that Brexit will cause the break up of the UK, which will be sad.
Although a United Ireland probably wouldnt solve the Irish border problems.
While typing this the Boris stupid argument that we are stronger together when it comes to the UK, but not when it comes to the EU, is ringing in my ears.
British farmers are worried about competing with cheap foreign imports, such as beef
What's the problem?
An ambitious deal with Australia could see some shop prices fall slightly, because food in the UK is often produced at higher standards and cost.
But this prospect of cheap foreign imports has led National Farmers Union president Minette Batters to warn of the "slow, withering death of family farms" in the UK, if the wrong deal is struck.
NFU president Minette Batters has warned farmers would struggle if the wrong deal is struck
Critics of the rapid removal of tariffs and quotas also point out a deal with Australia would increase the size of the British economy by only about 0.02% over 15 years.
And if Australia is offered generous terms, they say, other bigger economies - such as the US and Brazil - will want at least as good a deal in the future. So it sets an important precedent.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/57173498