The game's not worth the candle
The news that Marks and Sparks is closing its High Street stores in France should be a wake up call for the government but it won’t be. The news was long expected as M+S had been complaining for months about the problems that Brexit red tape was causing it.
But it is of wider significance than that, if a company the size and sophistication of Marks and Spencer can’t do business in France because of Brexit, how many others are there that have stopped and not been in the news? How many more are slowly being priced out of business on the Continent because of the billions of pounds worth of new tests, red tape and delays?
Finally remember that this is, so far, a one way street. The UK has to introduce these very same tests on imports but has kicked the can down the road, and delayed their introduction until next year. Why, because it has neither the people nor the facilities to introduce them and it knows that if barriers are hitting UK exports now they will do the same for imports.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.