Brexit.... squeaky bum time

after the debacle about Scottish fishermen, Whooster-Mogg et-al then now this…

and then it gets better… Dead as a Dido (Harding) perhaps had her hand on this idiocy too…

Everything going as expected then. Meanwhile in Bojoland everything is tickety-boo.

More disappointing stories today…

I learned to drive on a Hillman Imp and I passed my test first time too.

you little imp you :grin:

Saw this just now, quelle surprise :pensive:

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Does anyone expect anything else from him, he couldn’t look himself in a mirror and quote his name without lying through his teeth.

I thought the Dec’ trade deal was meant to ensure theres would be zero quotas and tarrif on goods to EU and reverse. So why is there a requirement to pay an import levy deposit when buying online from UK sites on many goods. French sites sometimes dont have the product ?

Welcome to an understanding of the term “non tariff barriers”.

Even though there are no tariffs and no quotas there is still customs paperwork to complete, rules of origin checks to be made, phytosanitary certificates to be obtained, VAT to be processed etc, etc, etc ad nauseam.

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Paul, I know there is lots of new forms, but why are tariffs being added…on a Galaxy A7 phone (just looked as an example) its about €70

Largely because some mop haired fool saying it is tariff free access doesn’t actually make it so if that is not what has been agreed. This is a far too simplistic answer and I’m sure only a small part of the issue but it was my understanding that part of the criteria for tariff free between the UK and EU is that the goods are British/EU made, at least to a certain degree. Taking a Samsung phone made in Korea or China or wherever, importing it to the UK and then selling it to someone in France for example does not make it a British product so it would still face tariffs. Making a car in Sunderland, even if a percentage of the parts are made elsewhere, could potentially be considered to be a British product and so be tariff free, albeit with an extra load of charges to take account of the added hassle. It’s about where the goods themselves are from rather than where on this occasion there are going from and to which decides if tariffs are due, which is where @anon88169868’s already mentioned rule of origin checks come in.

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Having lived here for almost 13 years as time moves on we have discovered that there isnt anything that we cannot buy here that we want or need to service our daily lives. Do the French mourn the fact that a certain product is only avialable in the UK? I doubt it.
Increasingly I feel that the idea that Britain can now trade freely with the world is already biting back. Why does a nation of some 60+million think that traders will be queuing up to buy its products the world over.
Best to seek an alternative product here or go without

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If you want a “little Britain” then move to the costas (del sol et al) where you can gorge yourself on the “gut buster” all day breakfast and kiss me quick hats :face_vomiting:

There is also the not so small matter of the customs union, which the UK is no longer part of. It’ not just trade and tarifs… Another thing that was patently obvious but not made clear as people just saw that they could go on duty free booze cruises again.

I’m sure you’re right about the phone Kristea - and almost ALL phones are actually made in the far east, even if they have western brand names, so they are all going to be caught in the ‘rules of origin’ tariffs.
But everything going to or coming from the UK is now going to have added costs - the new VAT rules are particularly onerous - and even without the duties, all the businesses in the supply chains have to recover the extra staff etc costs of the paperwork now required - the average cost of transporting a lorryload of goods to Britain from Germany was 26% higher in the first week of 2021 compared with the average for the third quarter of last year.

As forecast Brexit playing into hands of not just Scots Nats but Welsh too!,
See big report in todays Sunday Times.

Mastercard are increasing their fees as UK no longer in EU

https://www.ft.com/content/39f553a0-00c5-48ad-a8ee-0b9fd75554b0

Brexit the gift that keeps on giving.

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Read the article…Kevin Holinrake was our MP in 2016 and strongly remain, he then got junior gov job and supported Brexit as the will of the people!
Not sure if I fully understand the actual effect…does this apply if you use sterling plastic to pay in sterling to a EU supplier, or only if the payment is due in euro…so there is a conversion back into sterling on the issuers card.

I’d guess that if the vendor charges the sterling plastic in sterling there’s no charge. But if the sterling card pays in Euro then there the charge and an unfavourable exchange rate. Maybe Paypal will do well out of it… and Revolut.

I liked this quote “Some people might put this change down to Brexit, but it is actually just greed,” Joel Gladwin, of the Coalition for a Digital Economy”.

I always find their exchange rates in transactions to be poor.