Brexit consequences

[Miniliteman]

Found this:

https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

So is it correct that you (UK) don't have to pay anything on items below £135 ?

PS: happy birthday Jamie

[rwdrs]

Cheers Leon
I know what you mean but assume it to be a charge imposed after the event, there were loads of stories on the BBC of just that sort of thing, i.e. sometimes the seller and sometimes the purchaser being required asked to pay for excess fees items (ebay & other) etc. afterwards. I definitely haven't sold anything so Ebay can't be that chargning me for a sale.
The truth is it is chaos at the moment, most companies and individuals have just stopped selling stuff across the border. For about a week even DHL did not even offer a service to the UK, I mean a national carrier that goes to Outer Mongolia, just not the UK after Brexit
I personally see it as a risk, I think sometimes the extra costs are due to an forwarding agent having to stump up any duties at the border (for the courier DHL, DPD etc) and if the contents are unknown etc the charge is just slapped on top as a levy.


The item I sold was sent before the UK govt posted up the customs declaration forms on the govt website, so maybe that was the problem.



I have bought Recaro seat covers in the past (from Aldridges), I dread to do something like that now (or in the future) .


It is easier to get stuff from the States, at least you know what you will have to pay…

[rwdrs]

That may well be, but if France could use the system to their advantage, why didn't Britain do the same? (In actual fact, the local train service here in Germany is now run by a British company).

UK never wanted really to "get on board" and thus lost a civil aircraft industry to France & Germany, a military aerospace industry to license-building US planes, a helicopter industry first to Italy and now defunct. Why it went that way remains a mystery to me, as it certainly wasn't due to a lack of "British Brains". Probably a lack of investment (which brings us back to France investing in UK where UK had left an opportunity open).


Anyway, I'm hoping for the best - don't want my UK pension to become worthless!

I can defnitely confirm that with Westlands, a mate of mine was an apprentice down there, great place to work with loads of talented people but sold off to GKN, then Augusta, then basically kaputt. What a waste, all that aerospace work gone, what will happen in the future with Airbus and Filton is the next question, the UK has already been thrown out of Gallileo and bidding for any future work of a defence work, not to mention that OneWeb, which is supposed to rival Galileo, is already bankrupt.


Mr de Pfeffel Johnson's and his sidekick Mr Sunak's freeport idea was abandoned (after being attempted) under the Tories in 2012, so what makes them think it will work now?


No, I don't know what wonderful plan the Johnson government has got up its sleeve to transform the economy but they'd better hurry up while there's still something left.


Mr Johnson has certainly fortesqued business as he promised to do, even the LSE has lost its position as top stock market in Europe, as there is no 'equivalence' for financial institutions trading in Europe.
It saddens me really it does, but as long as the Tories are in government, with their corrupt 'you scratch my back' mindset it isn't going to to change any time soon.

[dasadrew]

I can defnitely confirm that with Westlands, a mate of mine was an apprentice down there,

Actually it was Maggie who almost solely destroyed Westlands. I do know quite a few details of that and two people - one industry, one RAF - who were personally involved. Not so sure if the stuff is under the 30 year rule, so 'nuff said. I actually worked together with Westlands when they were in the FPDS - the pre-cursor to NH90.


Gosh, did Maggie ever hate British industry and love Reagan.



After Concorde, Aérospatiale couldn't believe it that UK didn't want to be part of Airbus.

[rwdrs]

It's alright I won't tell anyone


Funny innit, the Conservatives like to present themselves as the party with financial competence and the friends of business but they always destroy it.


They have been promising to lower buiness rates which Maggie & Co brought in for 15 years but soon they needn't bother, what with Covid and the move to buying online, there will be no high street left soon.


The rest of brick-and-mortar business (manufacturing) will have been killed off by Brexit so they will have lowered the business rate tax take, by simply destroying business…

[gasha]

I bought some items from Germany cost was £110 delivered received a bill for £57 for duty a week after I received the goods had the guy mark the parcel up as gift but still got stung

[rwdrs]

Yep, I thought I might get a small parcel from the UK this week as it is my birthday today, but almost thankful that I didn't as I'd probably end up getting a demand for 20-30 quid afterwards…


I don't know how the 135 quid (tariff free) limit is suppposed to work (see Leon's link), it certainly doesn't seem to be working at the moment. As said, I've completely ceased buying stuff from the UK.

[dasadrew]

Don't be too critical, UK has only had 5 years to prepare for Brexit and there are bound to be "teething problems" after such a short preparation time.


The good news is that everyone is on the streets giving the NHS the clap it so richly deserves, and Spitfires and Lancasters still circle in the sky at every possible opportunity; (shame about the Vulcan though - bit of a bummer not being able to adequately pay tribute to the victory in the Falkland Islands war, and a shame the Harrier can't be shown off anymore as it's now replaced by the Lockheed F-35)


Not to forget the return of the good old wartime food shortages where the whole of Britain pulled together as one!

[rwdrs]

I don't think I'd go quite that far but you do have to wonder that the after crowing about the 350m pounds a week for the NHS, why they spent ten years destroying the NHS after Labour got it up and running again. And just what the endgame of Johnson and Gove is?


After all, parts of the finshing industry have already been destroyed within the first months (especially shellfish) and now it is much harder to export into the EU AND the UK financial services industry (about 75% of UK GDP) have also been damaged, what are they doing?


Was the idea to sell off the parts of the NHS to a Donald Trump USA? Or start importing 'cheap' food (from the US) in order to export higher quality foodstuffs to the EU?


If anybody knows what the idea is let me know

[katana]

The UK never destroyed the fishing (Shellfish) industry - that's purely EU regulations - before 31 Dec 2020 all UK shellfish were clean enough for import into Europe but on 1 Jan 2021 they became tainted and unclean requiring purging / cleaning, but a Euro boat can fish and catch in UK waters without this problem - Would someone who is at least 6 years old explain it to me?

The Financial thing is mildly amusing as yes, it forms a large part of our GDP but a large portion of European stock trading has to go through London, their own markets do not have the financial clout to compete! The EU tried to claw back some but the traders said 'Non'. Now wouldn't it be amusing if London chose not to deal with the European trades for six months or so - Pull up the drawbridge and treat Euro trading as 'dirty money' - well they are corrupt at the core else why not publish auditted accounts for the last 10-15 years?

[dasadrew]

Fishing? Dead easy that one. When UK together with 27 countries wrote the EU rulebook, UK government committed to adhering to all of the rules. Now the UK Government has said it will NOT be bound by EU rules and said it specifically wanted to use Brexit to get tough on borders; sounds reasonable too. So, to get goods to move into the EU single market some paperwork is required. Doesn't seem unreasonable - after all, UK was at the top table making the EU rules over 40 years so would know that.


Unfortunately, the dunces in government somehow forgot that the time to fill out forms would kill any "just-in-time" business, be it shellfish or anything else. Just explained that to Gwen, the 6 year old daughter of some american friends staying with us and she said she understood.



Make no mistake, it's not UK, nor France, nor EU wreaking damage. It's Brexit, and anyone who knew how a single market and a customs union work will have been able to predict all of this in June 2016; and many did. However, the Unicorn believers just called it "Project Fear".


To paraphrase a famous english bard "Cry Brexit, and let slip the bureaucracy of borders!"

[rwdrs]

I'm no great defender of the EU by the way, I was as dumbfounded by the stupidity of Mrs von der Leyen and President Moron regarding the AZ jab as the next man.



But figures speak for themselves, just look here:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/mar/12/boris-johnson-brexit-self-harm-economic-debacle-trade-drop

This was clear to me from day one, it had to happen. You don't call the USA an corrupt communist state I take it?


But whenever I order items from the States, I have to pay import duty, not so long ago the items spent weeks in Frankfurt then I had to go the local customs office and pick up my goods, after paying the import duty.


That hardly ever happens anymore, i.e. you pay the posty direct at the front door instead most of the time, or pay up front (on ebay).


It was clear that to achieve the 'advantages' of Brexit, i.e. no more Brussels jurisdiction, then a hard Brexit (like the current one) was the only way it was going to be possible. So, once it was clear that the govt wanted this form of Brexit, it was obvious that customs hold-ups (due to customs paperwork) would be the inevitable result.


So, as companies like BMW were using just-in-time production methods, i.e. where a Mini crankshaft travelled across the channel up to 5 times if the assembled car was sold in Europe that in future JIT was just unviable, either in terms of forms to fill in or the extra time required due to the customs clearance.


How Johnson will sell this monumental fork up to the UK electorate is beyond me
The really worrying thing is why, instead of going for a complete break with the EU, the govt didn't at least stay in the customs union, that would have cut out 85% of the paperwork.
Johnson seems almost 'idealistically opposed' to the idea, which makes you wonder what would make him go the that extreme and do that much damage to the UK economy, i.e. to what end has he basically done the Trump equivalent of building a wall around the UK and is trying to get the EU to pay for it, WHY?

[dasadrew]

I'm no great defender of the EU by the way, I was as dumbfounded by the stupidity of Mrs von der Leyen and President Moron regarding the AZ jab as the next man.

That really was a monumental brain fart. Heaven knows what they'd been smoking - completely indefensible.


On the complexity of Customs ..... :


The town where I live was a customs post on the danube when ships travelled along the river about 200 years ago. It still retains that moniker, so has a customs "shed". If a car part arrives from USA, I get a note from posty to say it's at customs; you cannot believe the questions they have to go through to find the right tariff:


Q: used or new? NOS. OK shelf life expired item then
Q: is it a commercial vehicle or private? Private
Q: is it a car part or motorcycle? Car
Q: gearbox or engine? Err... differential. OK Drivetrain
Q: is it copper or bronze? ... no idea
Q: is it...?
Q: was it..?
Q: does it contain ...?
OK, thats tariff 12xyabyy22. It'll be €1.89€ Customs to pay. Go to the cashier and bring me the receipt, then we can release it to you.

Good luck for trade between EU and UK !!!

[rwdrs]

The Financial thing is mildly amusing as yes, it forms a large part of our GDP but a large portion of European stock trading has to go through London, their own markets do not have the financial clout to compete! The EU tried to claw back some but the traders said 'Non'. Now wouldn't it be amusing if London chose not to deal with the European trades for six months or so - Pull up the drawbridge and treat Euro trading as 'dirty money' - well they are corrupt at the core else why not publish auditted accounts for the last 10-15 years?

I'm not sure about that, after all, Amsterdam is now the largest stock market in Europe, the LSE has just been demoted to number 2 in Europe admittedly still ahead of Frankfurt and Paris but not the powerhouse it was.
Not only that but government departments set up within the DTI advise companies to set up subsidiaries in Europe to ensure they will still be able to trade there, talk about Fred Karno's Army...

[rwdrs]

By the way, anyone interested in what is happening as regards London having been knocked off the top spot by Amsterdam should read this article:

https://theconversation.com/amsterdam-ousts-london-as-europes-top-share-hub-taking-trading-back-to-where-it-all-began-155236