Five years after the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, Brexit is still the most severe problem facing British businesses – ahead of the Russian war in Ukraine, rising energy costs and inflation, or Corona. From today’s perspective, the Brexit initiated by Theresa May in 2017 does not seem to have been an overly wise undertaking for the British:
According to an Ivalua survey commissioned by Coleman Parkes in August 2022, 80% of UK businesses clearly stated that Brexit had caused massive disruption to supply and supply chains over the past 12 months. Even higher – at 84% – were those who believed that the worst was yet to come.
Nearly a third of the companies reported a significant loss of turnover – mainly due to supply chain disruptions – of around 18%. In contrast, about two-thirds said that they were often fined for late delivery and often suffered significant damage to their image.
303 UK procurement managers in companies with 1,000 or more employees and a turnover of more than £50 million ($60 million) were interviewed in the survey, published on 28 November 2022.
Alex Saric, Smart Procurement expert at Ivalua, a cloud-based spend management company, says, “These results highlight the toll that supply chain disruption takes on UK businesses!” Saric points out: “After repeated blockages and restarts, continuity of supply was kept alive, resulting in supplier failure and companies struggling to bring new suppliers on board to get supply back on track.”
Like the parable of the prodigal son from Luke’s Gospel, it presents itself with Brexit: Five years after the Brexit referendum and two years after leaving the European Union, the British feel like the young man in the biblical story: they would like to return home. Among younger voters, 77 per cent would be in favour. The future is European in Britain too, and it is becoming increasingly clear that Brexit was a nostalgic project born of a sense of British specialness for which there is no basis in reality.
You say Goodbye, and I say Hello …
