Two years after EU exit, UK business feels Brexit blues

The problem is not the customs duties, largely eliminated by the post-Brexit free trade agreement between London and Brussels, but rather

Two years after Britain's departure from the European Union, bosses of UK businesses are reeling from the cost of Brexit, including some who voted to cut ties with Brussels.

"It's cost, cost, cost with no benefit," noted Adrian Hanrahan, chief executive of a small chemicals company, Robinson Brothers, based in central England and for which the EU remains a key market.

The problem is not the customs duties, largely eliminated by the post-Brexit free trade agreement between London and Brussels, but rather a mountain of new regulatory paperwork.

"We've added probably 25 per cent extra now on our administration costs just to cope with the changing paperwork... of getting stuff in from the EU and out of the EU," Hanrahan told AFP.

The company employs 265 people, producing chemicals used by various sectors featuring food, electronics, pharmaceutical and other firms.

Robinson Brothers exports around 70 per cent of its products, of which more than half go to the EU. 

'Nothing to help them'

The company is far from alone in struggling with the...