Trade, Businesses and Economy of U.K. post-Brexit: An Analysis

Many studies have carried out analysis of the Brexit’s economic impact on the UK, EU27, US and rest of the world. Depending on the assumption whether the Brexit will be a hard Brexit or a soft Brexit, almost all studies predicted Blows to the economies of the UK and the EU, with more severe blow to the UK economy. With the Trade Co-operation Agreement signed by the end of the year 2020 and the divorce of the UK from the EU with effect from 01-01-2021, actual effects of Brexit came to reflect in various economic data reported by various national and international agencies. This paper has made an effort to analyse these hard data and examined the Brexit impacts on various sectors in UK. It has also taken clues from the various surveys on the problems faces by businesses on the border, shortage of labour etc. The study concludes that UK has done a relatively good job of managing the inevitable Brexit disruptions, including transitional measures for the border. It has also set a laudable goal of having the best border in the world by 2025, which will require to streamline the Regulatory Control Systems. The UK has done very well on the external trade policy agenda too, concluding a de novo deal with Australia and New Zealand. UK is also exploring seriously for a Comprehensive Agreement with Trans-Pacific Partnership. But on the Domestic Regulatory Reform front, much is still to be done. Unless the UK uses 2022 to engage in meaningful and comprehensive regulatory reforms, the opportunities of Brexit are in danger of being squandered.