It's not a case of "told you so". Brexit bites as the net closes.
Smugness and a sense of superiority has no place. Karma will have a way slapping back if you're not wholesome. Business and life is a journey of ups and downs. We must have empathy for all businesses because at their heart they're being staffed, and run by real people and any firm's failure is a direct blow to people.
Lochfyne langoustines Ltd & Lochfyne seafarms Ltd are trending at the moment with a video expressing anger and frustration to the British Government in Westminster around red tape and issues around the new relationship with the European Union (E.U.).
Click play on the video below to listen to their genuine concerns.
I hope that all of the issues are solved, but a quick step back in the position and timeline of the firm shows that they played a key part in pressing for Brexit within their sphere of influence.
The new Brexit trade deal was signed, and approved by the E.U. and the British parliament following the departure of the U.K. from the bloc. However, this is not a case of teething issues, in the terms of the agreement, all of the new restrictions and paperwork were clearly set out.
Lochfyne langoustines Ltd & Lochfyne seafarms Ltd have championed their cause of protecting British fisheries and they have every right to. Back in 2016 they made their feelings clear.
But what of public sentiment? With the million views of the video recently, a lot of people wanted to find out more about the firm. A simple scroll back through social media posts paints a picture of a firm being anti-E.U. - the extent of that sentiment can only be determined as to the British membership. But increasingly people have been sharing the story along with the context of the historical posts, and in some content published by third parties there is less than sympathetic commentary.
The clear thing here is that they are not being targeted and penalised by any authority, this a simply a result of the Brexit process and new export policies. In a lot of cases the E.U. is the largest single market for many British exporters and Brexit has been seen by many as voluntary nose / face spiting.
Regardless, the promised frictionless borders are not effective as yet, and being a third party country to the bloc, it will never get back to how it was. More importantly if the result of Brexit for this firm is going out of business, costing people their livelihoods and a future in their chosen profession, this is hardship that cannot be passed off as a result of the coronavirus, it would be directly as a result of Brexit.
I do hope that there is a resolution to this story, but protectionism and isolationism is rarely the way forwards. I support buy-local policies, but if your economy is built on trade, then creating barriers is counter-productive. Unless the British diet rapidly changes to consume a lot more British fish, then the markets may well shrink for the British producers. Another direct result of having additional costs to trading with the E.U. is the increase in transport time due to processing times at ports, costs for staffing, fuel, logistics, paperwork, processing and licenses...AND currently Covid testing - which will pass in time, but it's a cost for now.