Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan would hit British businesses with up to £11.2 billion in administrative costs for new customs declarations.
Fresh research from the People’s Vote campaign has revealed the full cost of the administrative burden firms are likely to face after Brexit .
Official figures from HMRC estimate that up to 255 million customs declarations will need to be made after Brexit, up from 55 million at present.
The government’s own impact assessment of the Brexit deal confirms firms will have to pay fees, fill out forms and face border inspections when sending goods from Great Britain into Northern Ireland if they are likely to then enter the EU.
British firms will have to fill out at least two customs forms for goods traded west across the Irish Sea.
This will lead to “additional administrative costs” on goods moving from east to west – estimated at around £15 to £56 per customs declaration.
Extrapolating from those figures, People’s Vote researchers have calculated that the amount British firms will have to pay to export to the rest of the world after Brexit.
If the additional declarations cost businesses up to £56 in extra administrative costs, a potential bill of £11.2 billion a year.
Civil servants have estimated that Boris Johnson ’s plan to leave the EU and introduce extra barriers to trade would cost the country up to 6.7% of GDP over 15 years, a cost of around £2,000 per person each year.
Stephen Doughty MP, leading supporter of the People’s Vote campaign said: “Boris Johnson’s disastrous Brexit proposals are beginning to fall apart as more and more unpleasant details emerge.
“Now we learn they will lead to potentially crippling administrative costs for businesses due to the mountains of new paperwork they will be burdened with.
“Brexiters promised a vote to leave the EU would mean less red-tape, but the reality is a bombshell of new bureaucracy for UK businesses. This is yet another broken Brexit promise to add to the list.
“Boris Johnson’s Brexit would be a disaster for the UK. It needs to be rejected and the people need to be given the final say. That’s why up to a million people marched through London last weekend calling for a People’s Vote.”
