BCC research finds little love for UK's trade deal with EU

Overall, just 8 per cent of firms in the survey covering 1,000 businesses agreed that the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) was ‘enabling their business to grow or increase sales’, while 54 per cent disagreed.

When asked to comment on the specific advantage (for those that agreed) or disadvantage (for those that disagreed) of the trade deal, 59 firms identified an advantage, while 320 cited a disadvantage.

The advantages of the TCA, according to the firms, include allowing some companies to continue to trade without significant change, encouraging firms to look at other global markets, providing stability to allow firms to plan, BCC said on its website.

Disadvantages include rising costs for companies and clients and no time and money with smaller businesses to deal with the bureaucracy it had introduced. The deal had also put off EU customers from considering UK goods and services due to the perceived costs and complexities.

This follows BCC research in October 2021, which found that 60 per cent of exporters were facing difficulties adapting to the changes from the TCA on goods trade, while 17 per cent found the changes easy.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)