After a year of fractious relations, the government has to ensure the UK-EU relationship works better in 2022

Editorial: The public is beginning to notice that Brexit is not living up to Boris Johnson’s billing, which is potentially very bad news for him

(Brian Adcock)

The first anniversary of the UK leaving the EU’s single market and customs union deserves more attention than it will receive, as the pandemic continues to dominate the media landscape. However, the relative lack of scrutiny cannot mask some uncomfortable truths for Boris Johnson since Brexit played such an important part in his huge election victory two years ago.

UK imports and exports are down by about 15 per cent, in line with previous forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility. The fiscal watchdog believes Brexit will cause a 4 per cent long-term hit to GDP – a reminder that trade deals with the likes of Australia and New Zealand will come nowhere near compensating for the barriers erected with the UK’s biggest trading partners.

With Brexit adding to supply chain problems and labour shortages, the brave new world offered by Mr Johnson at the 2016 referendum is a different planet to today’s Britain. To say that voters were misled is an understatement. Moreover, Brexit is still not “done”. Delayed customs checks for imports from the EU take effect on New Year’s Day, raising the prospect of further disruption, with more new paperwork for animals and plants to follow in July. Mr Johnson is trying to rewrite the agreement under which he accepted a trade border in the Irish Sea after it caused wholly predictable supply problems in Northern Ireland.