Monthly Archives: February 2022

Two years after Brexit formally took effect on 31 January 2020, and a year since the UKs exit from the single market and customs union, we can attempt a provisional economic stocktake for both sides.

Nearly 52% of UK voters supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum. Nearly 100% of citizens elsewhere in the bloc were shocked by the result, and the first concern was that Brexit could mark the unravelling of the whole European project. That did not happen: indeed, quite the opposite. Even in the most Eurosceptic countries there was an increase in support for the European Union, a sort of closing of the ranks. There was a clear risk that the EU would become disunited in the buildup to Brexit. But again, it did not happen. All countries gave a strong mandate to the European Commission, and stood united.

Today, British politics appears increasingly folded in on itself, and the British economy is arguably less outward-looking than before the referendum. Countless questions remain unresolved with the commission, and mutual trust between London and Brussels has long since collapsed.

From the EU, the drama of the Brexit negotiations was watched with mixed feelings. Initial regret shifted to a desire to limit the damage. Some economic opportunities to fill the gaps left by the UK opened up. Brexit was clearly going to be a loss for everyone, but far greater for the UK than for any continental European economy.

The negative impact on trade, so far, is substantial for the UK. The Centre for European Reform recently estimated that there has been an 11.2% negative impact on trade as a result of Brexit. The UK share of world trade has fallen by a further 15% compared to pre-referendum projections.

Assessing the impact of Brexit on the EU presents a challenge, as macro-economic data is contaminated by the pandemic shock. However, digging into the details of trade flows, there has been a noticeable negative effect on some countries, sectors and firms. This has been especially sizeable for small producers who used to have unbounded single market access to the UK. Now, the extra paperwork puts off firms that lack the critical mass to absorb the extra fixed costs of handling non-EU trade procedures. Over time, the situation may well improve, but some companies have already given up. British consumers have paid the price, EU consumers far less.

A more precise picture of the geographical and sectoral composition will emerge once EU funds to compensate countries for the impact of Brexit are distributed.

Since 2016, the flow of EU workers to the UK has been in decline. That process accelerated last year, causing major imbalances in hospitality, agriculture, transport and healthcare, but also in some highly qualified jobs. The corresponding impact in the EU is a greater pool of labour in some countries and less of a brain drain, which increases unemployment but over time becomes a positive supply-side phenomenon. Again, while the impact is sizeable for the UK, it is very much diluted in continental Europe.

Although the impact of Brexit on the City of London is not yet significant, the possibility of maintaining an undisputed dominant position in increasingly integrated European financial markets has been jeopardised. On the margins, London financial job openings have moved to continental Europe, and some firms have relocated.

The historically Eurosceptic wing of the Conservative party wanted Brexit to deliver more freedom from what was perceived as the unnecessary constraints and bureaucratic burdens imposed by Brussels. A minority ultra-liberal wing naively dreamt of an even more open, deregulated, low-tax environment to increase economic dynamism and transform the UK into a Singapore-like haven. That raised fears in the EU of unfair competition through access to the single market, especially given the uncooperative approach to negotiations chosen by the UK government. Again though, these risks have by and large not materialised and concerns are dissipating.

The illusion of giving a boost to the UK economy with a reduction in taxation has clashed with the new needs for public spending for healthcare, the fight against the climate crisis, infrastructure investments, and the various electoral promises to the point of forcing the government to raise taxes. Instead of diverging, policies in the UK and the EU look increasingly alike.

Finally, there are non-tangible effects. In the past, the UK government has been obstructive on various initiatives aimed at strengthening the EUs architecture and achieving stronger economic and political integration. It opted out of schemes developed to alleviate the impact of the financial and economic crisis on Greece and other economies. Would the ambitious 800bn (665bn) pandemic recovery plan have even been possible with the UK government still around the table? Some in Brussels would say it would have been inconceivable.

The economic effects of the pandemic inevitably blur into those of Brexit, and therefore only once the dust settles can the damage be properly assessed. Of the many problems the EU is currently facing, Brexit has happily receded from the foreground.

Excerpt from:

The EU is facing many difficulties, but Brexit isnt one of them - The Guardian

Brexit Freedoms Bill will allow Britain to change or scrap outdated EU regulations to cut red tape for its businesses.

The UK government will introduce new legislation allowing it to change or scrap retained European Union laws, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said to mark two years since Brexit.

The new Brexit Freedoms Bill, which was announced on Monday, will make it easier to amend or remove what he called outdated EU laws that London has kept on its statute books as a bridging measure after leaving the bloc.

It will be part of what the UK leader dubbed a major cross-government drive to reform, repeal and replace the European laws retained and cut red tape for businesses.

The plans we have set out today will further unleash the benefits of Brexit and ensure that businesses can spend more of their money investing, innovating and creating jobs, Johnson said in a statement.

Our new Brexit Freedoms Bill will end the special status of EU law in our legal framework and ensure that we can more easily amend or remove outdated EU law in future.

The move is part of a flurry of announcements expected imminently from the government in key policy areas, as it also grapples with the growing international crisis over Russias military build-up near Ukraine.

However, critics have accused Johnson of rushing out half-baked plans and so-called red meat policies to shore up support among his own increasingly disgruntled Conservative MPs.

That follows persistent calls for him to resign over claims of lockdown-breaching parties in Downing Street and several other recent scandals.

Britain left the EU on January 31, 2020, but continued to abide by most of its rules and regulations until the start of 2021 under the terms of its withdrawal deal.

Although it then left the 27-member blocs single market and customs union, it kept many European laws on the books, pledging to change or repeal them individually post-Brexit.

Meanwhile, the government insists it has made huge strides outside the EU, striking some trade deals with countries and forging a new independent foreign policy built around a global Britain mantra.

But it has also been beset by issues blamed on Brexit, with the increased paperwork needed causing delays and even shortages of products while some industries complain of growing labour shortages.

Meanwhile, special arrangements agreed for Northern Ireland, aiming to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, have proved highly contentious there and led to increased political instability.

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UK to introduce new bill to scrap EU laws two years since Brexit - Al Jazeera English

Demands by French customs officials over the type of signature they will accept on post-Brexit paperwork have been blamed by UK business leaders for causing long queues of lorries on approach roads to Dover.

Two years after Boris Johnson smiled for the cameras, fountain pen in hand hovering over the EU withdrawal agreement, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said a minor disagreement over signatures on customs paperwork had arisen between Britain and France.

William Bain, the head of trade policy at the BCC, said the trade body had heard from UK exporters that French customs officials were requesting a wet signature on border documents for shipments of animals and plant products from the UK.

However, he said much of the documentation is produced digitally, creating unexpected holdups on deliveries from Dover to Calais.

One of the issues at Dover currently appears to be linked to the export of food products across the Channel, Bain said. Like many of the problems this looks to be down to a differing interpretation of how the trade arrangements work after leaving the EU.

It is the latest in a string of issues with the trade deal that speaks to the wider problems of interpretation, inconsistent application and glaring gaps in its coverage.

Documents with a wet signature from an official veterinarian have been required by the EU for imports of food and animal feed from the UK since the end of the Brexit transition on 31 December 2020. While electronic certification would have been possible using an EU computer system, the UK turned down an offer from Brussels to use the platform and built its own system instead.

A UK government spokesperson said that a shortage of vessels due to ship-refitting was the primary cause of delays at Dover rather than new customs processes, although they also urged the EU to take a pragmatic approach as the new rules come into effect.

Weve always been clear that being outside the single market and the customs union would mean changes and that businesses would need to adapt to new processes, the spokesperson said.

The dispute over wet signatures is reminiscent of delays in the 1980s when France ordered that all foreign-made video recorders entering the country be cleared by a nine-person customs depot in Poitiers, hundreds of miles from northern ports where goods shipped from Japan docked.

In the two years since Brexit, UK exports to the EU have fallen sharply. Although economists say there are difficulties disentangling the impact from the fallout of Covid-19, which has caused severe disruption to global trade, Britain appears to have been hit harder than comparable advanced economies.

According to the consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics, UK exports in November were 12.9% below their 2018 average level. By contrast, data for October from the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis in the Netherlands showed real goods exports from advanced economies were 1% above their 2018 average.

The BCC said that on the second anniversary of Brexit, and with huge lorry queues reported at Dover last week, urgent action to improve trade with Europe was required.

It said three-fifths of UK exporters (60%) it surveyed in November reported difficulties in trading with the EU, up from 49% in January 2021. The UK government introduced full customs controls on EU imports from 1 January 2022, ending a grace period designed to smooth the transition from Brexit.

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Gareth Thomas, the shadow minister for international trade, said ministers needed to prioritise reducing red tape and delays. If ministers wont act on the chambers ideas they need to explain quickly what they are going to do to keep trade flowing.

Bain said it was possible for the UK and the EU to take pragmatic steps towards reaching new understandings on the consistent interpretation of the post-Brexit trade and cooperation agreement.

No one is expecting goods to flow as freely across the Channel now as they did prior to Brexit. But the way the trade agreement is being interpreted in 27 different EU countries is a major headache for UK business especially smaller firms without the cash reserves to set up new EU based arrangements.

Continued here:

Dover holdups blamed on signature demands of French customs - The Guardian

Brexit is a "disaster" that is leading to less overseas work and a loss of talented workers, according to leading UK architects.

Andrew Waugh of Waugh Thistleton Architects spoke of the "sense of isolation" his studio has felt since the UK left the European Union, while Sarah Wigglesworth of Sarah Wigglesworth Architects said her business is struggling to recruit and tender contracts.

A senior partner at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners said it is causing "friction and asymmetry", while a Glasgow-based studio claimed pressure on the architecture industry means smaller practices are "struggling to compete with lowball fee offers from direct competitors".

One year onfrom the end of the transition period when the EU's rules ceased to apply in Britain, Dezeen spoke to six UK architects about how Brexit has impacted their work.

While some pointed to the widely reported surges in building material and labour costs, they also acknowledged that it is difficult to separate the role Brexit has played from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Others said the challenge is encouraging innovative and collaborative approaches to designing buildings.

"We would opt to return to how things were before in a heartbeat"Stephen Barrett, partner and head of Paris office, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

"In short, it's still too soon to have a complete and accurate picture.

"Two words do immediately spring to mind, however: friction and asymmetry. Firstly, contrary to the promises being made by those advocating the United Kingdom's departure from the EU, processes that were fluid and straightforward are now more complicated and expensive, requiring significant additional time, energy and administration.

"Secondly, and it's an obvious point, the impacts of Brexit on the UK are much deeper than the corresponding impacts on the UK's EU neighbours. Whilst we eagerly await evidence to the contrary, to date nothing suggests that Brexit isn't anything other than one of history's great own goals.

"Brexit has prompted us to invest in our Paris office, to formalize and expand our presence in Europe. Brexit undermines longstanding arrangements in relation to mutual professional recognition, significantly affecting the ability of UK-based practices to qualify and compete for work across the EU.

"Furthermore, without an EU presence, obtaining the required professional insurance, and notably decennial cover is also more difficult, if not impossible.

"Were we to have a choice, as a practice I suspect we would opt to return to how things were before in a heartbeat."

"The real issue for us is that sense of isolation"Andrew Waugh, director, Waugh Thistleton Architects

"We still have our European flag flying at Waugh Thistleton Architects literally hung on the wall. It's the first thing you see when you enter the studio.

"Pre-Brexit about a third of the office were from the EU. Now we have only two real Europeans left with us in the UK. We do have satellite offices in Venice and Madrid, so that's a small positive. But we still miss them all the diversity, panache and breadth of knowledge that they brought.

"The real issue for us is that sense of isolation that we are supposed to embrace. So while really progressive legislation and research is happening in Europe and an actual effort being made into lowering carbon and promoting timber construction, here it's not really happening.

"And then of course there's the labour shortages, material shortages, inflation, all for what? Singapore-on-Thames? And so one man could obtain power? Party on Johnson!

"Our cunning plan is to move the office back to Europe."

"Brexit is turning into the disaster that many who voted Remain predicted"Sarah Wigglesworth, founder, Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

"Brexit is turning into the disaster many who voted Remain predicted. Shortages of staff, higher prices, loss of exports, loss of students in our universities and so forth.

"As a business we are finding it hard to recruit, construction price hikes are making tender difficult and we are finding materials shortages.

"Cancelling large infrastructure projects will not help the building economy. With high inflation, the nation will be poorer but will it make us more humble?"

"It's difficult to isolate the impact of Brexit"Nick Fairham, chief executive,BDP

"At BDP, we have always embraced the inclusive studio environment that the barrier-free EU environment allowed. Some of our projects stalled due to Brexit jitters but with the pandemic affecting the entire sector, it's difficult to isolate the impact of Brexit alone.

"We have adapted our design approach to meet the challenges. The widely reported shortage of materials and labour in the construction market have undoubtedly increased prices and as such, we have invested in digital technology and continue to design to accommodate for off-site manufacture.

"Ultimately, it all points to a more careful post-Brexit approach to design, where off-site manufacture, local sourcing and employment are pre-eminent and the exciting possibilities of re-using rather than throwing away are explored.

"Necessity is the mother of invention -- we hope that through the need to adopt new ways of working, using digital design and manufacture to carefully mitigate environmental impact and promote efficiency and wellbeing, we are entering the era of careful, not careless, design."

"Despite Brexit, our studio has remained delightfully mixed"Naila Yousuf, partner, Wright & Wright Architects

"Industry-wide materials shortages have been a recurring theme this year, as have extraordinary inflationary costs, though whether those are a product of Covid-19 uncertainty or Brexit is up for debate.

"Material shortages could have hindered the delivery of our projects, particularly the procurement of innovative materials like cross-laminated timber, certified Passivhaus glazing, or specialist mechanical and electrical kit.

"However, the challenge experienced by many did not negatively impact our attitude to design, or the progress of projects on-site, which is a testament to the client, design team and contractors with who we have been working.

"Despite Brexit, our studio has remained delightfully mixed [with] 30 per cent from the EU and further afield, and our studio culture is all the richer for it."

"We have seen the already challenging project budgets we're working to slashed"Marc Cairns, managing director, New Practice

"A key area of focus for New Practice is community-led development delivered in partnership with the public sector, local organisations and community groups.

"As the impacts of our exit from the European Union take hold we have seen the already challenging project budgets we're working to slashed and, unfortunately, in some cases projects have been scrapped completely due to increasing material costs and supply-chain risk.

"Critically, this is resulting in often the most disadvantaged communities missing out on meaningful schemes.

"Similar situations across the industry have also created greater competition between peers vying for these opportunities, with micro-practices struggling to compete with lowball fee offers from direct competitors and much more established practises willing to take a hit on 'loss leader' projects.

"However, there is a glimmer of a silver lining in all this. We've also seen an increase in collaboration between firms of all scales looking to innovate and offer something different in this challenging transition and we hope that this is a trend that continues to build across the industry in years to come."

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Brexit is "one of history's great own goals" say architects - Dezeen

The Decade the Rich Won9pm, BBC Two

The second half of this undersold documentary continues to unpick what has happened to the UK economy since the 2008 financial crisis picking up with a little thing called Brexit. Recalling a not-so-merry-go-round of resignations, risky decisions, shock statistics, tax scandals and billionaires blasted into space while cleaners have their wages capped, talking heads include Philip Hammond, George Osborne, Miatta Fahnbulleh, Margaret Hodge and Jeremy Corbyn. Hollie Richardson

Catty dinner party swipes, meddling matchmaking and a constant parade of beautiful frocks Julian Fellowes period drama continues to be an indulgence (with Christine Baranskis sharp-tongued performance being the icing on the cake). The second episode sees an admirer of Marian (Louisa Jacobson) follow her to New York, while Bertha (Carrie Coon) goes to new lengths to forge her way into the circle. HR

Queen Latifah returns as Robyn McCall, formidable former CIA operative turned freelance NYC vigilante. Season two begins with Robyn contemplating quitting her covert double life, but a lethal bank heist keeps her in the game. Chris Noth co-stars as her old colleague Bishop (but is hastily written out later this run following the news of recent allegations). Graeme Virtue

If you go down to the woods today, youre in for a dose of heartwarming reality TV. In this new series, expert woodworkers craft bespoke furniture for deserving nominees. This week, Alex takes on a toolbox project for a school volunteer while Saf designs a drinks cabinet for a charitable chip shop owner. Henry Wong

Toast signs up to appear in a western, only to end up in a mid-desert crash en route and basically appear in his very own western. A wild-eyed Aidan Turner and a flinty Benedict Wong are among the oddballs he meets on a desert journey that takes in sheriffs, saloons, rattlesnakes and, erm, goldfish. Alexi Duggins

The much-missed channel is back on TV from tonight, and what better way to celebrate than with this new female-led sketch series? Commissioned off the back of Freya Parker and Celeste Drings Edinburgh fringe show, its a short, full-throttle mix of the weird, the observational and the silly. HR

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, 2000), IMDb TVEnjoy spotting the references to Homers Odyssey or just revel in the silliest performance of George Clooneys career either way, the Coen brothers Great Depression-era comedy boasts a breadth of entertainment value. Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson play escaped convicts who hit the road to find supposed buried treasure. Chaplinesque comedy scenes vie with dramatic encounters with the likes of bank robber Baby Face Nelson, bluesman Tommy Johnson and the Ku Klux Klan all backed by a cracking folk soundtrack as the inept trio attempt to reach their goal. Simon Wardell

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TV tonight: the truth of Brexits economic nightmare - The Guardian

Everyone misses something. For some, its quite specific: PG Tips, Branston pickle, proper curry. For many, its more intangible: the atmosphere of an English pub; that greenness, everywhere; tolerance; and British openness.

Then they pause. Actually, many formerly British-resident EU nationals say, what they miss is an idea. Or, to be precise, the idea of Britain they had before 24 June 2016: all of them remember, in painful, pin-sharp detail, how they felt, and what they did, the morning after.

While it is clear that EU immigration into the UK has declined sharply since 1 January last year, when Britain finally left the blocs orbit and free movement came to an end, it is hard to say exactly how many EU nationals have left since the Brexit referendum. The figures are confusing. The ONS says Brexit and the pandemic prompted more than 200,000 EU nationals to go in 2020, leaving a total of 3.5 million in the UK but the Home Office says it has received 6m applications for settled status. Jobs data suggests 9% fewer EU nationals were working in Britain last year than in 2019. Immigration experts, however, say the official data is insufficient, and almost certainly underestimates the true number of departures by a significant margin.

Elena Remigi is a translator and interpreter who, after the shock of the referendum result, set up In Limbo, a Facebook group for EU citizens in the UK and Britons on the continent. She reckons more than 20% of the 100-plus EU citizens whose testimonies she published in the first of the projects two books in 2017 have now left Britain.

Some went right after the vote, says Remigi, who has lived in Britain for 15 years. Others waited for job offers. More left in 2020, in the transition period, when British partners could still settle easily in the EU. The pandemic convinced another lot to go.

But for all the confusion around the exact numbers, few experts doubt that the bitterness created by Brexit, combined with longer-term concerns about becoming second-class citizens, have prompted many to go. Early reports of unfair hostile environment treatment of legally resident EU citizens have spurred the exodus: EU nationals arriving for job interviews have been locked up, and others legally resident in Britain have been detained.

When the Independent Monitoring Authority, which was set up under the Brexit deal to protect the rights of EU citizens settled in the UK, surveyed 3,000 EU nationals in the UK last summer, it found one in three lacked trust in the government, and one in 10 were planning to leave. Last month, the same body launched legal action against the Home Office, accusing it of breaching EU nationals basic rights.

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Many, of course, have decided to stay, regardless. For those who decided to go, the decision was rarely easy. Often, they had been living, working and bringing up families in Britain for decades. Some took British partners often with equally strong feelings about Brexit with them. Others separated.

They are still scarred. We settled, they say, contributed, built lives in Britain, felt it was our home and then, without us having any say, you suddenly changed the rules. The words they use to describe how they feel are invariably the same: forgotten, lost, abandoned, unprotected, unwelcome, betrayed, belittled, voiceless. Many were asked when they would leave. Most believed that in future some degree of discrimination over jobs, housing, healthcare, bank accounts was inevitable.

But returning to the EU has not always been easy. So yes, there are things about Britain they miss. Though they have also lost their illusions of what Britain was. The most succinct summary she has heard, says Remigi, goes like this: Farewell, Britain. You were once good to me. And then you werent.

Candela thinks her experience is a common one. Come to England, find a job, meet someone, get married, have children, she says. Then wake up one morning, see the result of the vote, and realise everything has changed. Leave. There are many like me, arent there?

She still believes Britain is a tolerant country. I always thought it, she says. Perhaps this is a hiccup of history. Maybe Britain has just stepped back to move forward. What I do know is the day I left was the saddest of my life.

Candela spent 23 years in Britain, coming first to study English, then working for a Japanese trading company. She married a Japanese man in insurance, and raised two children, now aged 15 and 20.

We bought a house in Orpington, she says. It was our home. The day we left, 4 August 2017, I cried so many tears. I feel emotional talking about it even now. I have kept a photograph of it, all emptied.

Brexit was such a shock. British people always seemed so respectful of foreigners. And the vote brought everything out that was hidden. All this pride in being British, this dislike of other cultures, all in the open.

The morning after, taking her daughter to school, she recalls other parents looking at the floor. People who knew me. They looked guilty, she remembers. A remainer friend came round and announced, We love you. Very dramatic. Lots of people said, Its not against you. I thought: but its against people like me.

What also changed, she says, is that she started wondering about people. Which way theyd voted. Id never thought that way before. Comments you wouldnt have thought about twice, you started noticing.

Just over a year after the vote, her then husband (they separated a few months ago) was offered a job in Spain, and took it. He was over the moon, she says. The sun, the food He wasnt very happy in England.

For Candela, there was a reverse culture shock. She was feeling sad that my country isnt capable of doing that much better. The whole Catalan independence thing kicked off as we arrived the same issues, a divisive referendum, all over again. It wasnt easy.

Now she is working in Barcelona, for a startup. Although her children are British nationals, her son just told her: Mum, wherever I go, Ill be a foreigner. Her daughter is studying at Goldsmiths, and happy; she at least feels at home. Candela misses Londons multiculturalism. Proper customer service. Green trees. Not the weather. Not the food. And I wouldnt go back.

There are mixed feelings, but no regrets, says Mammone. Now a senior researcher in contemporary history at the Sapienza University of Rome, for the past 10 years he was at Royal Holloway, University of London.

An expert on the far right, nationalism and European politics, Mammone, whose first experience of Britain was an Erasmus year in Bath in 1999, watched the Brexit process unfold with an interest that was as much professional as personal. He got it half wrong, half right. On the one hand, I thought the leave campaign did not look like it was winning, he says. On the other, I was absolutely certain, looking at what the Conservatives were saying, that if it did, it would be a disaster.

There are lots of people like Mammone in UK universities, people who came for this very open British system, this rich exchange of ideas, this great multicultural welcoming of foreign minds. Now, he says, many are leaving. You see a difference of approach. It feels like certain topics or themes are becoming almost out of bounds. A kind of nationalism has come back. Add in the marketisation of higher education in the UK, and the universities are not what they were.

Professionally, Mammone says, he could see this was demagogy in action. The Brexiters analysis was so poor; it was clear they could never deliver all they promised. We used to talk about British pragmatism, but leaving Europe actually brings Britain closer to the populist politics of parts of the continent.

Personally, he feels a sort of betrayal. Like a rejection of the European identity. It was a shock when it happened, certainly. Politically, culturally, Britain showed a different face. It no longer considered me a citizen. I had no reason to stay not family, not the weather, not the food. It was not special any more.

Mammone does miss London. Or at least, a nostalgic, romantic vision of London dynamism and greenery. But I was back for a month this autumn and its changed. In Italy theres a kind of post-pandemic renaissance under way; London feels the opposite. Every day I am more sure I made the right choice.

After 19 years in Britain, Joke Qureshi has come to spell her name as its pronounced in Dutch: Yoka. Its also the name of the new band she has formed with her British husband, Ray, a year after returning to the Netherlands.

It hasnt all been easy, she says. I felt like a foreigner in my own country: so much was the same, so much completely different. I didnt know how things worked. We felt lonely at times, often misunderstood.

She was disappointed, too, to discover escaping Brexit did not mean escaping some of what drove it. All the our country is full rhetoric, the idea that immigrants are taking peoples jobs, that they are the cause of the housing shortage, only after our money that exists here, too, she says.

Qureshi landed in London in 2002, aged 29, from Amsterdam. She found a job in a pub, then as a recruiter, then in a travel agency, and spent her weekends gigging. Ray, who drives trucks for a day job, joined the band as a guitarist in 2011. She studied for a social policy degree from the Open University, volunteered with a youth offenders service, and eventually became a special educational needs teacher, a job she loved.

In August 2016, weeks after the referendum, they moved to Kent. There were still leave posters everywhere, she says. In the pub, people would just assume we agreed with them. I felt nervous, unsure what to say. But when we went to see my mum in the Netherlands, everything just felt so easy. I felt like I belonged. Like I didnt have to pretend. Ray loved it, too.

When they finally decided to move, in June 2020, it was a scramble: Ray needed to be resident in the Netherlands before the end of the transition period or face a series of complications, including a Dutch language test. But everything fell into place. Before they left, Qureshi found a job in youth care; Ray started driving trucks as soon as they arrived. They found a home with a garden and a workshop for Rays hobby, guitar-making.

The pandemic hasnt made life easier, but they feel on track, Qureshi says. The band is on; a social life beckons. I miss my friends, I miss my old teaching job, I miss the British blues scene, which was so warm, she says. I miss nice Brits. Ray really misses a good curry. But Im happy we left.

English was Ollivier-Minns worst subject at school, which is why she came to Britain in 1986, aged 19, to improve it. I honestly thought I would spend the rest of my life there, she says. I loved that country. I embraced the culture. It really was home.

In more than three decades in the UK, she worked as an au pair, an auxiliary nurse, a French teacher and, finally, as a sculptor, living first in London, then near Great Yarmouth, and for 24 years in a big house with a lovely garden in Norwich. She married a Briton (a good man) and had two children, now 24 and 27.

In September 2018 she moved back to a one-bed house near Nantes, where she grew up and has family and friends. I had to leave, she says. The weight of Brexit became so enormous. The division, the apathy, the sense of betrayal. I couldnt stay. It became almost physical.

Her last two years in Britain were suffocating, unbearable. The architects of Brexit stole my friends, she says they felt uneasy about the vote and kept their distance afterwards. Brexit also robbed me of my beautiful home: it no longer felt like home. They tarnished the British values we shared, and soiled me in the process. They left me feeling unsafe.

Ollivier-Minns didnt trust the EU settlement scheme. I could see the discrimination coming, that dangerous us v them, she says. I had to get out.

Brexit also cost her her marriage. I fell out of love with the country, then I fell out of love with my husband. So after more than 30 years together, we divorced when I returned to France. It was immensely stressful.

Rebuilding a new life in France after so long away, wrestling with the bureaucracy and doing up a new home have proved a huge challenge, but also a distraction. She has a lot less money. I ended November with 35 in the bank, she says.

I miss my children most. Theyre British; they dont feel in the least French. Thats the biggest sacrifice, a huge sacrifice. I miss English pubs. I miss PG Tips. I miss speaking English I love this language. I was missing it so much I set up an English conversation group here.

Yet she remains angry. I still care about Britain, but the deep feeling of betrayal wont leave, she says. Im disgusted by what happened, by whats still happening. But Im happier out of it. I had to look after myself. Theres no price for freedom and security.

Aichbauer headed back to her native Austria in October last year, with a British partner and daughter in tow. It was a relief, she says. I could have stayed, made the most of it. But Im so grateful Craig wanted to leave too.

An inveterate traveller, Aichbauer arrived in the UK in 2001, aged 28, in pursuit of an Irishman she fell for on a motorbike tour of India. She settled in Brighton, working at a museum cafe to fund more road trips. She met Craig in 2009 and travelled around Asia with him for 14 months. Then she became pregnant with Judith, and moved in with Craigs mother in the Fens. Later they bought a home of their own near Wisbech in Cambridgeshire.

I trained as a baby swimming teacher and pregnancy yoga instructor, and loved it, she says. Craig did warehouse shifts, then found work as a plumber. We had a whole life there. A happy life.

The referendum was devastating. Craigs whole family had voted leave. The pub no longer felt so friendly. I got a few When are you going home? comments, and I just thought, I dont have to do this, Aichbauer says.

Craig was very honest, she says. He just said he didnt have the guts. But then Covid shut down her workplace, and in May 2020 Aichbauer took Judith to Austria for six weeks. We had the best time ever, she says. We called Craig every day. But it was an English friend who convinced him. He said it was clear where Britain was heading. She wont easily forget the date. The sixth of July. He called, said hed spoken to the estate agent, that the house was on the market. From then on, things went really fast. (They had to move quickly: as with the other British partners of EU nationals, Craig needed to be in Austria before the end of the transition period.)

They were lucky: Aichbauers big old family home, now owned by her sister, was mostly used for holiday lets, so they were able to stay. In the Alps, where Austria, Italy and Slovenia meet, most jobs are seasonal, but Aichbauer has found permanent work as an assistant to the local vet, and Craig is working as a plumber. Judith is loving school.

I have no regrets, Aichbauer says. I miss my job, my lovely colleagues. Craig struggles a bit with the winter, the sheer weight of the snow. But you look where Britains heading now and you think, I wouldnt have been true to myself if Id stayed.

Pavelkov is back where she began, in Prague, and theres not a lot she misses about the country that was her home for 15 years. Im not a big tea-drinker, she says. I do miss the openness, the tolerance at least, I miss my idea of Britain as it was, before Brexit.

Pavelkov left for the UK after graduating from vet school in the Czech Republic in 2006. She found work in Lancashire; it was hard to begin with. But after a spell travelling, she returned in 2010, settling in Cheshire, qualifying as a veterinary cardiologist in 2014, then working in an animal hospital in Manchester.

I think I was a bit naive about Brexit, she says. I didnt think anyone would be so stupid as to vote leave. But I started to worry as the referendum neared, and people around me started saying they would.

The outcome was, Pavelkov says, a life-changing event. It completely threw me. I panicked about the implications for my job, my work, free movement. It was clear EU citizens would never have the same status, that the country wouldnt be the same.

She overheard a nurse telling a colleague she had voted out because I dont like the immigrants. A neighbour asked when she was leaving. A client who brought his dog in was proudly sporting an I voted leave T-shirt.

The whole atmosphere was different, Pavelkov says. She applied for permanent residency in the UK before realising she didnt qualify because she had not had private health insurance while she was studying.

Then, in 2018, she met her British husband, Stuart. Id calmed down a bit by then, Pavelkov says. But neither of us felt our future was in the UK. Neither of us liked where the country was going. We decided to leave in January 2020, and we knew wed have to be gone by the end of the year.

Pavelkov applied for British citizenship. She says: Im not proud of having dual nationality; it was necessary just to keep the rights I already had. But last December the couple moved to Prague. She has set up her own veterinary cardiology practice, and Stuart, an environmental officer in the UK, is working from home.

Pavelkov has returned a few times since then for locum stints, but has mixed feelings. I do miss my colleagues; were a small, close, very friendly community, she says. I love seeing my friends and family. But Britain has changed. Life is cheaper here in Prague, and easier. The quality of lifes better. Were happier.

This article was amended on 30 January 2022. Due to an editing error, an earlier version said that the UK left the EUs orbit and free movement came to an end on 31 January last year. The UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020; then, following a period of transition, it left the EU single market and customs union at the end of 31 December 2020, when free movement came to an end.

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The day I left was the saddest of my life: EU nationals on the pain of leaving UK - The Guardian

Can you please explain the rules for sending gifts to Europe post-Brexit, because every time I send one to my son in Germany he ends up having to pay charges to take delivery.

All the goods I have sent are well under the 45 (37) that seems to be the threshold for paying VAT. But he always ends up having to collect the package from a depot and paying between 6 and 10. I have been using Royal Mail and printing my own labels and the CN22 customs declaration form. The most recent fee of 9 was for a paperback book, only worth 10.

How do I prevent these bills?

GH, Sheffield

I have received a lot of similar emails, mostly from people who sent Christmas gifts to recipients who ended up having to pay a fee before the carrier would release their item. Its another post-Brexit disaster area, that even the Royal Mail struggles to explain.

The situation is confusing as VAT is now payable on non-gifts arriving in the EU from the UK. In contrast, as I understand it, gifts valued below 45 are not subject to VAT or duties, and therefore there is no reason for extra fees.

Royal Mail confirmed that your son has been wrongly charged and has refunded you for the December parcel, and another sent last week.

It told you that the gift tick box on the CN22 customs form is being misinterpreted by EU carriers and it is addressing this with a redesigned form due at the end of the month.

In the meantime, readers may want to take back control and hold off sending items to Europe. It may be better to buy online and have the item delivered from within the EU until this is resolved.

We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include a phone number. Letters are subject to our terms: gu.com/letters-terms

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Since Brexit, my parcel gifts arrive in the EU with a big bill - The Guardian

Geopolitical events such as Brexit can lead to profound effects on local, regional and global healthcare markets. Brexit, the UKs withdrawal from the European Union (EU), prompted a period of uncertainty in the countrys healthcare market during the transitional years, starting with the initial vote to leave in 2016 and continuing to the present day. There is speculation over potential price increases in medical and healthcare supplies and disruptions in the supply chain. Delays can also occur due to the shortage of professional assessment as larger providers have pulled out of the market, leaving three approved bodies for UK medical devices.

The approval and marketing processes for new medical devices are more costly and time-consuming as manufacturers need to follow both EU and UK regulators. All manufacturers will need to register with the UKs Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), submit reports to the agency and receive a UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) mark. In addition, new EU regulations such as the Medical Devices Regulation (MDR) and In Vitro Diagnostics Regulation (IVDR) have delayed many companies as there are increased costs and time associated with the approval processes. As a result, with the additional hurdles associated with marketing medical devices in the UK and EU, manufacturers may be deterred from launching new products in the UK.

In a GlobalData poll of 218 participants, 50% agreed that Brexit will disrupt the UKs ability to acquire the latest and safest medical devices. The new EU regulations, MDR and IVDR, have a higher degree of safety because of the EUs increased standards on clinical data needed to market a new device. Since these new regulations are scheduled to take effect next year, GlobalData predicts that small-medium enterprises, especially from outside the UK and EU, will exploit opportunities to release and market cheaper medical devices that conform to the less-stringent old standards. This will lead to the release of devices that conform to different safety standards, which will lead to different price points. The increased safety standards in MDR-approved devices will win market share, which will affect the UKs ability to gain the safest medical devices until they instil stricter safety regulations.

According to GlobalDatas thematic research report Brexit Impact on Medical Devices, Brexit holds a lot of uncertainty for the UKs medical devices market. Despite Brexit, however, the UKs in-vitro diagnostics segment accounted for 15% of total revenue in 2020. GlobalData projects that the UK medical devices industry is set to reach $19.8bn by 2030, as the UK is a popular location for clinical trials and home to the headquarters of 1,800 medical device companies. Although there is immediate uncertainty of Brexits impact on the UK medical devices sector, GlobalData expects the market to continue to grow as manufacturers adjust to the new UK and EU regulations.

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New regulations due to Brexit may limit medical devices from entering the UK - Medical Device Network

The former EU Brexit negotiator accused the Prime Minister of being a "buccaneer" as he called on Mr Johnson to respect the withdrawal agreement signed in 2020. He told French channel Europe 1: "What interests me about Boris Johnson is that he respects his commitments, that he does not behave like a buccaneer and that he respects his signature."

Mr Barnier went on to say that the Prime Minister should "respect EU fishermen" and should respect Irish citizens over the issues around the Northern Ireland Protocol.

But the former EU chief was promptly scolded by Generation Frexit leader Charles-Henri Gallois who said: "You haven't read the treaty you negotiated?

"On fishing, the UK respected the agreement.

"The EU and you negotiated very badly."

Mr Gallois added: "On Ireland, it is also a big joke.

"It was you who cynically used it all the time during the negotiations."

The former Brexit negotiator has been attacking the Prime Minister front and centre for the past week.

He criticised Mr Johnson for threatening to take unilateral action to rip up the mechanism if the EU refused to compromise in discussions on how to make the deal more sustainable in the long run.

Attacking Mr Johnson for urging Brussels to fix the problems caused by the Protocol, Mr Barnier said last week that the deal was "exactly what they signed up".

He said: "The British Government has very consciously accepted this complicated solution which preserves the all-Ireland economy, protects the internal market, provides the controls we need and keeps the peace.

"The British Government must adopt a pragmatic attitude, without ideology, in order to find practical solutions."

Mr Barnier added: "Mr Johnson is a skilled and experienced politician, he has around him very high-quality civil servants.

READ MORE:EU throws Ireland under bus as military crippled

Goods crossing from Great Britain are subjected to bureaucratic customs checks, with many companies simply refusing to ship to the province due to excessive paperwork.

Presently good travelling to Northern Ireland is assumed at risk of entering the EU's single market via the Republic in the south.

Mr Johnson wants Brussels to agree to scrap customs checks for all products unlikely to leave the UK.

He is also calling for the role of the European Court of Justice in overseeing the Protocol to be removed.

The Prime Minister has argued that it is impossible for the EU court to be impartial in proceedings.

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Have you read your deal? Barnier skewered as he attacks Boris on hated Brexit agreement - Daily Express