Category Archives: Brexit

Over the past year, both the UK and EU have been reeling from the effects of a global fossil fuel energy crisis. Fuelled by a post-pandemic boom in demand, and aggravated by Russias invasion of Ukraine, energy bills for average households have reached record highs. To get the country out of the energy crisis, the Government has launched its Energy Security Strategy which looks to end its reliance on foreign imports of oil and gas.

However, Mr Brown, the SNP's spokesman on Energy and Climate Change, has pointed the finger at the end of the free movement of skilled workers as one of the contributing factors as well.

The MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun noted that in order to achieve the goals set out in the Prime Ministers energy security strategy, the UK needs to have a plan in place.

He said: We need to have a supply chain that is available.

We need to make sure we have access in terms of skills, development and training.

He added that aside from rapidly training skilled workers to help in building renewable energy projects, the UK could also consider bringing in engineers from elsewhere, outside the UK".

Mr Brown said: At the moment the Government has ended the free movement of people from the EU.

We're going to have to look at emigration because emigration could also help grow the technology, which is actually better for the UK in the long run because it helps to revive the economy.

It actually grows your tax base, it grows your wealth, and therefore you can have an emigration policy that doesn't prevent that from happening.

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You continue to grow the workforce, and on the back of that, you have a training programme and a development program to continue to bring up through education and college and university sector to get them ready to move into the industry as it grows.

You're increasing your homegrown talent, but you can do that by working with imported engineers as well.

During the Brexit referendum, a majority of people in Scotland voted to remain in the EU, which is why the possibility of rejoining the bloc could play a factor in the SNPs Scottish independence bid.

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Energy bill fury: SNP blames BREXIT for crisis and calls to rejoin EU: 'Would help!' - Express

In the past few months, relations between the UK and the EU have been the best they have been since Brexit. Vladimir Putins assault on Ukraine reminded the two sides of the need for the worlds democracies to co-operate. It is tempting to hope that relations could continue to improve, especially now that the French presidential election is out of the way. But, as I say in the magazine this week, this is unlikely to happen.

The Northern Ireland protocol is about to return to the agenda. The EU thinks that the UK must be made to abide by what was signed, and that allowing London to wriggle out of the letter of its commitments would set a terrible precedent. The British view is that the protocol is causing a crisis for Northern Irelands devolved institutions. Londons position has also been hardened by the fact that the more consensual approach of the Foreign Office has yet to make much progress.

In the Queens Speech next month, the government will announcethat it intends to legislate to protect the Good Friday agreement in its entirety. This is code for unilaterally overriding parts of the protocol if it deems it necessary. Even some Tories think this move is cynical. They see it as an attempt by Johnson, still weakened by partygate, to remind the Brexit faithful that he is more in tune with them than any potential successor would be. The bill will also face a hard passage through parliament, given opinion in the House of Lords on the sanctity of international agreements.

But the move is, in fact, less dramatic than it looks. The people behind it emphasise that it is designed to see if the EU is prepared to budge. One of those close to the negotiations says that Maros Sefcovic the European Commission vice-president who is dealing with the Northern Ireland question just doesnt have the flexibility to address Britains problems properly because he only has the mandate for a technical, not a political, negotiation.

There are some in Whitehall who think that the strongest case for new British legislation on the protocol is if it is part of a broader effort to get the devolved institutions operating again in Northern Ireland. They argue that if Unionists issues with the protocol are addressed then the DUP will be under more pressure to go into the executive at Stormont even if, as seems likely, Sinn Fein becomes the largest party after next weeks Assembly elections. If the DUP cannot be persuaded to return to a power-sharing arrangement, then there is little chance of getting a Northern Ireland executive up and running.

The UK is adamant that it is looking for the least disruptive way to address its concerns. But the governments hope that it can act on the protocol without causing a wider upset between the UK and the EU is far-fetched.

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Miss Brexit? Another bust-up is looming - The Spectator

Portugal has started fast-tracking UK travellers at its airports, allowing Brits to avoid long queues when they enter the country.

By opening their e-gates to British travellers, Portugal is sending a message that it does not intend to prioritise EU tourists at the border, defying Brexit rules in the process.

Since 31 January 2020, new travel rules have been in place as the UK is no longer part of the European Union. The main stipulation is that British passports must be checked manually, instead of electronically, meaning longer queues.

But at this months 'World Travel and Tourist Council' summit in the Philippines, it was revealed that passport e-lanes for Brits had been set up in airports in Faro, Lisbon and Porto in mainland Portugal, and at Funchal in Madeira.

British travellers made up the majority of overseas visitors to Portugal in January and February this year, booking nearly 484,000 hotel overnights over the two months, according to the Telegraph.

The electronic gates are thought to be available to visitors from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Japan too.

This should provide increased accessibility for our valued British travellers, as we head into the busy summer period, Luis Araujo, the president of Turismo de Portugal, told The Telegraph.

"We're delighted to have made travel to Portugal even more seamless for those able to make the most of the new e-gates."

Travel insight expert Paul Charles added that this could lead to a domino effect with other countries.

Portugal is the first country to abandon the EUs Brexit rules of manual checks for UK citizens. Other countries that depend on UK tourists, like Spain and France, may follow suit to boost their inbound travel numbers.

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Portugal becomes first country to ignore Brexit and fast-track UK tourists - Euronews

Bankers have called on the UK Government to accelerate plans to cut European Union red tape and its anti-competitive tax regime if it wants London to retain its status as Europe's leading financial hub. A banker from JP Morgan, which had threatened to relocate part of its business to Luxembourg if the UK voted to leave the European Union, claimed British banks have to pay more tax than they do in other financial centres, which is anti-competitive.

Anna Marie Dunn, JP Morgan's finance chief for Europe, also suggested lenders could be deterred from having assets in the UK.

Richard Gnodde, Goldman Sachs' European head, added that British banks needed a lot of work.

Mr Gnodde, who signed a letter to the Times declaring his support for the Britain Stronger In Campaign, also announced in April 2021 that Goldman Sachs was planning to move hundreds of jobs out of London to a new office in Birmingham.

However, Ms Dunn and Mr Gnodde's comments come after corporate decision-makers could move to the Brussels bloc as the European Central Bank (ECB) enters the final phase of its desk mapping exercise.

Both Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have also increased their EU workforces by 1,800 as a result of Brexit, according to the Telegraph.

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It has even been claimed the financial service companies have been relocating London bankers or hiring staff on the ground.

The concerns raised by bankers also come after the New Financial and the Atlantic Council found faster post-Brexit reform was key to ensuring the UK retains its illustrious crown.

The think tanks also called on the UK to focus on building greater ties with the US, which it claimed could help grow British capital markets by as much as 40 percent after helping companies raise an extra $75billion (60billion) a year.

The report said: The UK should move further and faster in reforming the framework for banking and finance and the wider ecosystem to reboot UK capital markets and improve the competitiveness of the City of London.

Faster coordinated action on taxation, regulation, and access to world-class talent is needed to ensure the UK remains well ahead of competitors.

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The UK has recently been boosted by the news that London has retained its crown as the top overall destination for financial services worldwide.

According to a report by the City of London Corporation, the capital came out on top and finished ahead of continental competitors, including Frankfurt and Paris.

The report added: London received an overall competitiveness score of 61, followed by New York (58) and Singapore (53). The rankings were rounded out with Frankfurt (45), Hong Kong (39) and Tokyo (36).

For the first time, the research includes Paris as a second European comparator centre, with a competitiveness score of 41.

The Square Mile was also only beaten by New York in a separate study published by the Z/Yen Group think tank.

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'Faster and further' Bankers urge Brexit Britain to slash red tape and taxes to boost City - Express

The Prime Minister is understood to have been given suggestions on how to ease the cost of living crisis without using taxpayer money. The latest figures put inflation at seven percent - the highest rate since 1992 - and energy bills rocketed by 693 on average at the start of the month.

The Tory leader is considering a suggestion to cut import tariffs on goods Britain is unable to produce to help counter prices on supermarket shelves.

It would help keep down the cost of food staples such as rice.

Plans given to Mr Johnson would also see Brexit powers used to reduce tariffs on refined oil products to help ease the rise in energy prices.

The Brexit blueprint, first reported by The Sun, comes as the Prime Minister looks to rally his Cabinet today.

Mr Johnson will remind his colleagues that they have a duty to do everything possible to help those struggling with current price rises.

New research from the Office of National Statistics shows that in March almost a quarter of Britons (23 percent) found it difficult or very difficult to pay household bills.

In contrast, the figure stood at 17 percent in November.

Further, 17 percent of people said they were now borrowing more money or using more credit than they did a year ago because of the rise in costs.

Mr Johnson will call on ministers and their departments to look again at how they can ease pressures on household finances.

The Prime Minister will encourage them to work at pay to find new means of helping families without the need for increased Government spending.

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Ahead of Cabinet this morning, Mr Johnson said: "With household bills and living costs rising in the face of global challenges, easing the burden on the British people and growing our economy must be a team effort across Cabinet.

"We have a strong package of financial support on offer, worth 22billion, and its up to all of us to make sure that help is reaching the hardest-hit and hard-working families across the country.

"We will continue to do all we can to support people without letting Government spending and debt spiral, whilst continuing to help Brits to find good jobs and earn more, no matter where they live."

It is thought Mr Johnson will take action in a matter of weeks to help reduce costs.

He will consider the proposals to use Brexit powers alongside other suggestions put forward by MPs and ministers.

Britons are currently suffering from the biggest fall in living standards since records began in 1956.

As well as the surge in prices, tax levels not seen since the 1940s have hit pay packets.

The Chancellor's 1.25 percent increase in national insurance took effect at the start of this month.

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Brexit masterplan to slash cost of living: Boris handed blueprint to rip up EU rules - Express

British motorists will be spared a possible 50 annual insurance hike, as the government continues to assist with cost-of-living pressures and uses post-Brexit freedoms to scrap a controversial EU law.

A bill to scrap the EUs Vnuk motor insurance law has passed through Parliament today (25 April 2022) and will go on to receive royal assent to confirm changes in the law.

The EU law could have required a wider range of vehicles beyond cars and motorbikes to have motor insurance, such as golf buggies, mobility scooters and quad bikes.

It would have extended to vehicles on private land, meaning even people with a ride-on lawnmower at home would have potentially required motor insurance. However, other insurance options are already available to people who need cover on their private land, such as farmers.

Not implementing the law will prevent an almost 2 billion hike for the countrys insurance industry, which would have translated into a potential increase in individual insurance premiums of around 50 per motorist per year.

EUs Vnuk motor insurance law scrapped

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

Sacking this nonsensical EU rule will protect the pockets of hard-working British people as we continue to help ease cost of living pressures.

This is another Brexit win and Im delighted this bill has rightfully passed through Parliament, saving billions of pounds of additional insurance costs and protecting our world-leading motorsports sector.

The bill was introduced to Parliament by Peter Bone MP, who said:

I am delighted that Brexit has allowed me to promote a bill that could save the average motorist 50 per year.

I am grateful for the help that the Motor Insurers Bureau and the government provided in drafting the bill. My Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) Bill is just a small example of our Brexit dividend.

Vnuk would have also covered motorsports collisions, potentially involving vehicles from go-karting to Formula One, which would have been treated as regular road traffic incidents requiring insurance.

This could have decimated the motorsports industry due to additional insurance costs of roughly 458 million every single year. Scrapping Vnuk will therefore save the world-leading sector from potential collapse and secure hundreds of thousands of industry jobs in the process.

The CEO of The Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB), Dominic Clayden, said:

The MIB welcomes the passing of the Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) Bill. We have campaigned on this issue for a number of years and were delighted that the necessary legislation to remove the effects of Vnuk has now passed.

Motorists will no longer be faced with the additional costs relating to future accidents on private land and accidents involving a range of extra vehicles including lawnmowers and golf carts. This will save all motorists money and take us back to the commonsense approach we had before the Vnuk ruling in 2014.

In addition to the likely financial burden on British road users, the Vnuk rules are considered unnecessary as there are already insurance packages available to Brits that cover certain risks on private land.

Motor insurance will still be required for any vehicles being driven on roads or other public places. However, the removal of Vnuk means insurance for vehicles used on private land is not needed.

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Motorists to avoid annual EU price hike thanks to Brexit powers - GOV.UK

SO four years after being elected andtelling everyone that he would getBrexitdone, BoJo and his hoard of idiotic chums will still have failed to get Brexit done (Tory government drops plans for more post-Brexit import checks, thenational.scot, Apr 28).

READ MORE:Tory government drops plans for more post-Brexit import checks

No taking back control of borders because suddenly they realised that when they were told it would be expensive, it really was going to be expensive. Still trying to renegotiate the Northern Ireland protocol because yes it really did put a border in the Irish Sea, like we all said it would. All of these costs and heartache could all have been avoided by not having Brexit in the first place. But then there is no accounting for the stupidity of British Nationalist Unionists Supremacists.

Alan Thompsonvia thenational.scot

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Costs and heartache of Brexit could have been avoided by not going ahead with it - The National

The Brexit-backing Business Secretary told energy firm executives to invest more in UK projects to avoid being hit by a tax on earnings. Mr Kwarteng, who was first elected as the MP for Spelthorne in 2010, even suggested energy companies could look to pump money into the North Sea and offshore wind.

Mr Kwarteng's comments, which were reportedly made during an online meeting, came after the Chancellor of the Exchequer warned the Government had kept a windfall tax policy on the table.

Mr Sunak even signalled he would look again at a windfall tax amid cries for the Treasury to do more to tackle the cost of living crisis.

The UK Government had previously opposed the policy after it was put forward by the Labour Party.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Boris Johnson said in March: That is a classic example of what Labour got wrong during its period in office.

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The oil and gas companies are now investing 20billion in ensuring that we have long-term energy supplies.

The Prime Minister added: Everything that Labour is proposing would deter investment, meaning higher prices for consumers and households up and down the land being worse off.

Labours cost of living plan includes a windfall tax on energy companies which could bring in as much as 3billion, meaning the Oppositions measures would cost around 2billion more than the Governments proposal.

The Taxpayers' Alliance, a Westminster-based pressure group, also criticised Sir Keir Starmer's plan.

John OConnell, chief executive at the TPA, last month toldExpress.co.uk: Politicians should be wary of the siren song of windfall taxes.

Taxing energy profits will discourage investment and dissuade new players from entering the market, meaning even bigger price rises or fewer energy suppliers able to weather a future crisis.

Governments should focus on limiting these haphazard interventions and instead resolutely go for growth with a pro-enterprise, lower-tax agenda.

Despite Mr Sunak's Mumsnet suggestion that such a policy was never off the table, energy companies have insisted they have outlined plans to invest more in Brexit Britain.

A spokesperson for the oil trade body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) said its members plan to invest 20billion in UK projects to extract oil and gas between now and 2026.

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The OEUK also claimed it estimates 60billion will be invested into offshore wind projects in Britain by the end of the decade.

Shell, an Anglo-Dutch company which gave Brexit Britain a boost after it announced it would relocate to the City of London from the Hague, said it would pump 25billion into the UK energy system over the next decade.

The company even claimed three-quarters of the investment would not be spent on the North Sea and would instead be pumped into offshore wind, hydrogen and electric vehicle infrastructure.

BP also outlined its own plan to spend twice as much on UK projects.

However, penny-pinching Brits have been hit by a cost of living crisis as inflation exceeds seven percent and energy bills increased by 693 following the price cap hike on April 1.

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Kwarteng urges Shell and BP to invest in Brexit Britain after Sunak's windfall tax threat - Express

Britons who live in France and around the world for more than 15 years will from now on retain their right to vote in the UK for life if previously registered or resident in the country, after a new law received Royal Assent yesterday (April 28).

This could mean newly acquired voting rights for one million British people living in Europe, and up to three million around the world. There is no readily available data on the exact number of people in France who are affected.

The Connexion talked with an expert in UK and French politics about the reasons behind this change, as well as why it might be more to do with party donations than votes.

We also heard from readers living in France on whether they would consider using this new right.

Previously, British citizens lost the right to vote 15 years after they were last registered in the UK.

This sometimes meant that residents of France, who cannot vote in presidential and legislative elections unless they are also citizens, were sometimes unable to vote anywhere since they stopped being EU nationals.

The change in the law, which comes as part of the UK governments Elections Bill, means that British citizens will be able to vote in the constituency where they were last registered when they left the UK, subject to showing proof of having previously been a resident there to officials.

Reacting to the new law today, some Connexion readers said that they would choose to vote in a UK election if they felt that party policies affected their life in France.

However, Mick Watson said: I choose to live in France so why would I want to vote in the UK?

I dont trust any of them. [In] this day and age it seems all politicians are more interested in finding fault in the other parties instead of coming up with some of their own policies.

Clare Price-Jones was undecided as to whether she would vote, especially as she has recently obtained French nationality.

She commented: I feel so bitter towards the country of my birth because none of the precarity we were left with [as a result of Brexit] was ever taken into account by Britain; we were treated like dirt I feel.

No provision was negotiated; it all had to be led by France and Franco-British organisations.

When you consider that French nationals living elsewhere in Europe have actual representation in the Senate!

However, I would seriously consider using my UK vote in order to reverse Brexit or oust the corrupt scoundrels in power currently, she said.

Some three million British nationals living abroad could benefit from the votes for life change.

However, Dr Susan Collard, who is a senior lecturer in French politics and contemporary European studies at the University of Sussex, told The Connexion that she is doubtful that these additional voters will have a significant impact on election results.

There is no way of knowing, and we probably wont be able to find out, she said, because people are voting in their original constituency and their votes are assimilated into all the others and not counted separately.

However, I would say that most political scientists would say that the impact is going to be negligible. From my research I would say that there won't be an extra three million people voting in each election; it wont be massive.

There will be a small number of people who were very politically active before they moved abroad and want to carry on voting, but I think other people were so disgusted with Brexit that they turned their backs on the UK government and said that they did not want to have anything to do with UK politics anymore.

It will be very interesting to see what kind of awareness campaigns will be run because some people living abroad are fairly unreachable.

Other people in France are more interested in taking on French citizenship as a response to Brexit, Dr Collard added.

The UK government states that this new right will apply to parliamentary elections, but Dr Collard explained that: Referendums are always dealt with as separate pieces of legislation, so there is not any general rule about them as they are called on an ad hoc basis.

In the two referendums that we have had in the UK, they just took the parliamentary register, and Im pretty sure that that is what would happen if there were to be another one, so I cant see why Britons abroad wouldnt be able to vote.

It would be just too complicated to exclude these people.

If there were another independence referendum in Scotland, it would not include overseas voters because Scotland only ever uses residency as the basis of its electoral register.

Dr Collard told The Connexion: The official reason is about giving British citizens their full citizenship rights, but no one really believes that.

The question of Britons voting from abroad has always been driven by the Conservative Party and there have always been suspicions from the other parties that the reason they were doing it was because they would gain from it.

Labour and the Lib Dems have argued that this is all about getting more votes for the Conservatives, and the reason for that is that, until the turn of the century, expats or people who moved abroad were generally more affluent.

It wasnt like Italy or Portugal where you see people driven abroad for economic reasons.

It was the stereotype of the well-heeled middle classes. Many more wealthy people also moved abroad in the 1970s, when the Labour government introduced very high income tax bills.

So when the first very timid legislation allowing people who moved abroad five years to vote was passed, there were lots of people already living abroad to avoid tax. Tax exiles were assumed to be more favourable to a Conservative government.

However, things have since moved on. With the arrival of the internet, cheap flights, retirement migration and mobility within the EU the sociological profile of people living in Europe has completely changed.

It would no longer be reasonable to assume that most of those people would be Conservative voters, but the parties seem to have been locked into this ideological debate since the 1980s.

Research has also shown that, since Brexit there has been a huge backlash, even among very staunch Tory voters, against the party from people living in Europe.

However, what has also emerged from research on the subject is that it looks like the Conservative Party is much more interested in the increase in donations that will come, because with more people on the electoral register you massively increase the number of people who can donate to parties.

So its not just about three million voters but about three million donors.

Dr Collard added that this sense is supported by the idea that the party has done nothing to improve the actual act of voting for Britons abroad. Being able to send a postal vote from Australia is virtually impossible unless you want to pay for a courier.

That reinforces that it is much more about donations than about votes, she said.

When will I be able to exercise my right to vote next?

The next UK general election can be held no later than January 24, 2025, and so in theory, Britons living abroad hoping to exercise their newly returned rights still have a few years to wait.

However, a vote could be called earlier under various different circumstances.

Further legislation will now need to be passed to iron out the details of this initial bill, and to work out the logistics of processes such as overseas voter registration.

Votes for life for Britons abroad expected within weeks

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Votes for life for Britons abroad: 'I'd use mine to reverse Brexit' - The Connexion

Travelling is different right now, declares easyJet in a pre-departure e-mail the airline currently sends its passengers. The message goes on to provide a list of preparations for, and limitations on, foreign journeys caused not only by coronavirus but by Brexit as well.

Managing business travel is also different right now, and looks set to stay that way. Travel managers need to be aware their job is not just about buying commodities like air and hotel any more, says Tobias Schnborn, managing director of mobility service provider visumPOINT. They now need to be much more involved in risk management and compliance topics.

Mobility compliance complexities abound, such as the need for Posted Worker notification and A1 social security certificates when working in an EU country (including for European Union citizens). In late 2021 German travel managers association VDR helped influence the European Commission to draft an exemption for short business trips that would effectively confirm A1 certificates as unnecessary for white-collar travel.

However, approval of the exemption has been held up by changing presidencies of the Council of the EU (now held by France, one of the biggest champions of the A1 requirement) and, said VDR president Christoph Carnier, lack of clarification of how long a short business trip can be.

Coronavirus-related hoop-jumping also remains necessary when entering many countries. Covid obligations are here to stay, a panel on mobility compliance agreed at last months Global Business Travel Association/VDR conference. The only question is to what extent, said BCD Travel director of global account management Oliver Meinicke.Brexit begins to biteBut arguably the biggest mobility compliance issue currently dogging business travel is the UKs departure from the EU. Immigration-related changes took effect once the agreed transition period ended on 31 December 2020 but are largely only being felt now.

We see more and more clients face the reality of Brexit over the past couple of months where actually it causes friction for a UK national needing to work in the EU and vice versa, said Frank Jura, CIBTvisas and Newland Chase managing director for Germany and Austria, at the same GBTA/VDR session.

Schnborn agrees, highlighting as a particular problem the rule allowing UK passport holders only to visit the EU (or vice versa) visa-free for 90 days in any 180-day period see 'Counting the days' guest column for more.

Last year no one really travelled but now that people are starting to travel again, 90 days is proving very tough for frequent travellers like salespeople, especially as personal vacation time is also deducted from the 90-day allowance, he says. They are starting to find they are exceeding their limits.

That is exactly what is happening to Robin Balme, a specialist automation electrical contractor based in the UK. Balme spent the best part of three months working in France at the end of 2021 and is currently fitting a cruise ship in Finland. He has already run up against the 90-day limit once and is about to do so again.

I booked a holiday to Sicily, which was a mistake; I should have gone to Wales, says Balme. I cant go on summer holiday to Europe any more. From 9 June I will have to wait six weeks before I can return to the EU for another two weeks. There is more work available for me after the summer holidays but I dont know if its worth going through with because of the red tape.

Its certainly affecting my ability to work, Balme continues. A large majority of the work I do is in the EU. I also know many people who work in the music industry and they have lost all their European tours. Why use someone from Britain if you can use a European?

Balme now resorts constantly to a special Brexit calculator that allows him to plan when he can and cant work in the EU, and how long he has to wait before returning.

Brexit has given Balme other travel headaches too. He had to forfeit his original non-refundable air ticket to Finland because the essential specialist equipment for his work that had been sent ahead was delayed in customs and unavailable to him.

Among sectors hit especially hard by the 90-day rules are construction, engineering, automotive and energy, according to Schnborn. Our clients are seeing the issues coming up and are looking for solutions like work permits for countries their travellers visit frequently, he says, adding that the process can cost more than 2,000.

That has other implications, like taxation liabilities, and you need an address in the country where you can receive the permit and an entity in the country to be the local sponsor, says Schnborn.

Many of our clients are saying they will be more careful. We have German clients who are saying they wont tender for projects in the UK any more, and others saying they will not send Brits to the EU but will use people from elsewhere in Europe.

One company having to rethink deployments is Siemens. Easy travel between the EU and UK is not possible any more even though people are not realising that [yet], its head of global framework, Meike Geiken, told the GBTA/VDR session. You have to have a view of how much your population in the UK has to travel around Europe, and the other way around. Do we need a work permit or a visa that we didnt need before?

That leads to lead times, costs and impact on flexible business travel. As a company you need to look at your business in the UK: do you need to ramp up resources or ramp down resources? Geiken said.

One individual who has discovered how painful the need to acquire a work visa can be is Mark Webber, Professor of International Politics at the University of Birmingham, who heads to Rome later this year for a six-month secondment. Webber has found Italian bureaucracys Kafkaesque reputation only too well deserved, where even the people he was trying to deal with seemed unsure of the rules.

It was all certainly made more complicated by no longer being in the EU, says Webber. Brexit means Ive had to apply for a visa I wouldnt previously have had to apply for. It was easier to get a visa to enter Russia a few years ago than to go to Italy.

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Brexit's impact on travel beginning to hit home - Business Travel News Europe