It may be seven years since UK voters opted to exit the EU, but that has come with new consequences and a lot more to come.
The Government is working out how to deliver its bonfire of EU rules after enraging Tory backbenchers with a screeching U-turn on the timescale. But changes to travel rules, which will see Brits travelling to Europe required to undergo biometric tests are another headache on the horizon.
Bosses in Dover have already warned the move could mean border checks taking up to four times as long.
It’s also been linked with labour shortages in some sectors, while academics have concluded that exiting the European Union led to average food bills increasing by £210. But unsurprisingly this is hotly challenged, and the Government has repeatedly said Britain is reaping the benefits of Brexit.
Plenty of economists have picked through the drop in trade with the EU and the effect that it had. In June a newspaper outlet said just one in five Leave voters thought Brexit had gone well, with two-thirds saying politicians had failed to get a good deal.
Here we look at some of the good, bad and ugly impacts it’s had on our day-to-day lives.
One of the most noticeable impacts, especially at this time of year, can be seen at the UK’s borders. Peak holiday times have seen lengthy queues at Dover as Brits head over to mainland Europe, and this week was no different with gridlock causing misery for motorists.
The Government has argued that a variety of factors is to blame and said it was wrong to point the finger entirely at Brexit. However, Sir Keir Starmer hit back, saying in April it was obvious there would be problems with some border checks in place.
Meanwhile, the Port of Dover’s chief executive, Doug Bannister, has also revealed Brexit had led to longer processing times at the border. He told a newspaper outlet that he did expect this to improve with time, however, stating that people would get slicker at reading passports, and at lodging paperwork and checking paperwork, but that they were a different trading regime.
However, there are other problems on the horizon, with new biometric checks expected to be brought in next year.
Meanwhile, at airports and international railway stations, British citizens can no longer use the border control lanes for EU citizens. They usually have to have their passport stamped when entering and exiting the EU.
Officials warn that holidaymakers travelling through the Channel Tunnel could be forced to wait four times longer than they are now thanks to new EU border checks. Next year the EU is expected to bring in its new Entry/Exit System (EES) system.
This is a requirement for all people entering the union from outside of Europe, but borders chiefs are honest about the fact they expect there to be teething problems. It’s now expected to be introduced after the Olympic Games in Paris next summer.
People entering the EU will be required to have their fingerprints scanned and a photograph taken to register them on a database the first time they enter a member state. John Keefe, chief corporate and public affairs officer at Getlink, which operates the Channel Tunnel, told MPs last month that the time required to capture all of this data on top of the passport control at the border could add anything between a multiple of two to four times the time required to go through the border today.
He said this unresolved could result in significant queues for passengers in cars in particular trying to get through the enrollment process.
As mentioned above, the impact of Brexit is the topic of fierce controversy, but one effect which professionals believe was that it had a rise in food prices.
Earlier this year a study by the London School of Economics ruled that food bills had gone up by 6 per cent, adding an additional £250 to household bills, researchers found. Over two years, the study concluded, UK households spent an additional £7 billion which they wouldn’t have done if the United Kingdom hadn’t left the EU.
Researchers said that the price of food imported from the EU, including things like tomatoes and potatoes had shot up by around 6 per cent, but on the other hand, it could have given a boost to UK producers.
LSE concluded that since 2019 the cost of food has gone up by about 25 per cent, but this would be 17 per cent if post-Brexit trade restrictions weren’t in place. It highlighted trade barriers such as additional paperwork and increased testing on livestock.
Industry chiefs warn that new post-Brexit controls set to come into effect in January could push up food prices and the threat of disruption even further.
New checks on food imports, which haven’t been fully implemented, will see additional charges of between £20 to £43 on goods. Nichola Mallon, head of trade at Logistics UK, said that this was very concerning, adding, that it was too high, and if introduced, would add to inflationary pressures and was likely to lead to market distortion in the movement of goods.
LSE report author Nikhil Datta wrote that not everyone had been instituted at the border. For instance, not all veterinary checks were being carried out.
He said it could be that there will be no adjustment in prices when they do take effect because businesses have already accounted for the extra costs. Or the extra barriers, when they come into effect, do increase prices and householders will face a further increase in their food costs.
But there’s always the Brexit pub guarantee.
Rishi Sunak was very enthusiastic this week as he outlined sweeping changes to alcohol duties, and leaving the EU has given the United Kingdom increased powers to overhaul the way alcohol is taxed, and the Prime Minister claimed his measures make it easier to protect pubs.
The thing to remember is that Brexit wasn’t forced upon us but we voted regardless. Some voted to Remain, some voted out of the EU and of course, those that did want to Remain were outvoted, and there’s simply nothing we can do about it now.
Many people at the time didn’t care if Brexit upped inflation, they didn’t care if it all made us poorer, they didn’t care if it destroyed industries, they didn’t care if it took our freedom of movement away, or if it was bad for our environment, people only cared that it would keep the foreigners away, but Brexit couldn’t even achieve that.
Brexit has destroyed this country, yet there are still deluded people out there that think leaving was awesome. However, there are many that voted Leave that would change their vote in a heartbeat to Remain because let’s face it, we haven’t really seen any advantages to leaving the EU, but we’ve seen tons of price increases.
Brexit means Brexit. It means chaos when you travel. It means trouble in Northern Ireland and the threat of renewed conflict. Brexit means splendid isolation, and now Britain is a small island on its own, but then Brexit was always for the wealthy and never for the needy.
The United Kingdom is a sinking vessel, and you could weep at the damage Brexit has already done, let alone the harm that’s to come.
It was a complete con trick that helps nobody other than the ultra-wealthy who were striving to further increase the obscene amounts of money they’d stashed away in offshore accounts. It was one big fat lie after another.
We were part of the EU for over 40 years. It wasn’t broken, so if it wasn’t broken, why try to fix it?
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 