and the planet's. now on bbc news, panorama follows companies on the brexit frontline as they navigate their way through britain's new trading relationship with europe. the government says there will be bumps along the road to brexit success. every single box needs to be opened, so every single product needs to be labelled. so what are those bumps like for people in the most affected industries? so we're seeing lots i of administration fees, extra costs being - added onto invoices. we've been following uk businesses at the sharp end of brexit. paperwork.

that's three hours' work every morning that we export to the eu. through six months of upheaval... we could end up with an english driver, with an irish driving licence in a dutch—registered truck. ..and new opportunities. it'sjust been confirmed that we are going to be going with a 20—foot container. well, there you go. so that is really exciting. acoustic guitar music give that tank a wee clean out because there's a hell of a growth on it there now. on the shores of loch fyne in the west of scotland, jamie mcmillan runs a shellfish business.

his industry was the first to hit a brexit bump. injanuary, he lost £90,000 worth of shellfish after it got delayed in france at the uk's new border with the eu. i'm angry. my blood is boiling. there's boats tied up, there's families' fishing boats tied up. we can't get our product to the eu market because of red tape, extra paperwork. it's an absolute disgrace what we've had to go through. within days of leaving the single market, fishermen were protesting. the government quickly offered compensation, but two months later, jamie is still waiting. not had any yet. it's now the middle of march, and i've not had a penny from the uk government, nothing. jamie employs 22 people. he's already worried he might have to lay some of them off.

they're not only our work colleagues but our personal friends as well, you know? living in such a small rural place, you know, you seem them every day, you see them every two hours, you pass them in the village all the time. 60% of his sales used to be into the eu. the brexit deal maintains tariff—free trade, so there's no taxes on imports and exports. but jamie now has to pay for health certificates, transit declarations and customs fees. so, {3,673.90 to export

to the eu injanuary. this is the true cost of brexit, here, this cost, and that to me is a tariff, that cost is a customs fee, and to my mind, that's a tariff. anybody, any government, any politician that tells me that that's not a tariff, then come to my office and see me, and they can pay it because my business can't afford that. sorry, i'm going off on a rant there. i'm just — i'm sick of brexit, i really am. if you want to blame anybody, it's the eu that is deciding to impose these very strict controls on what uk companies can export to the eu. and also brexit of course isn'tjust about trade. there's an awful lot else going on, for example, the possibility of regulating our economy more sensibly as a sovereign nation.

we're very used to the idea that trade deals are good . things, because they reduce i trade barriers that makes trade easier, and profits go up. what i don't understand i is why people don't accept that the converse would also be true, that if you raise trade - barriers, then trade will reduce. - raising trade barriers - is exactly what we've done with the eu. acoutstic guitar plays 500 miles south in surrey, another business is hitting a brexit bump. countless sleepless nights just trying to figure out how we're actually going to get this done and make sure that we can continue selling in the eu.

matt ford makes vegan snack bars. some are sold direct to customers' homes in europe. but some of them are now sending the packages back because they're being hit with customs fees. i've had to turn off internet sales to europe at the moment just because we were getting so many returns from couriers. so they were just returned to us, all at cost, to us. and itjust got to the point where i said no, enough's enough, i'm turning it off. so unfortunately we've lost out now on all of our european online customers. hi, morning, trudy, morning, scarlett, morning, george. the business was founded by his fiance, julianne ponan, in 2012. it had a turnover of more than a million pounds a year before brexit.

they didn't turn up for the meeting? is that correct? no, yeah. she helped promote the government's brexit transition plan. i'mjulianne ponan and i'm the founder of creative nature. i suffer from anaphylaxis, so it inspired me to create a top allergen—free brand. but her company has already lost £20,000 worth of european orders. it's harder to work with the eu and the amount of opportunity that we have is a lot less for a lot of paperwork. vegan products should be easy to export because they don't contain animal products. but one eu country, malta, is asking for an animal health certificate. there's absolutely no way you need a health certificate for vegan products.

he said, unless this is a brand—new thing that has come in for malta. shall we start cutting in and breaking down? the £2,000 maltese order was placed on 11th january. if you want to tear that round... mid—march, two months later, and the vegan snacks are still sitting in the warehouse. that has taken dale three hours on the phone. it'sjust insane. like... three hours on the phone? what was he doing? he's having to go back and forth with them, because one's saying yes, you need it, and the other is saying no, you don't, because it's not an animal product. it's just such a waste of time. problems like this make it harder to do business. there was a 23% drop in the trade in goods with eu countries in the first three months of the year. some of that might be due to stockpiling before the brexit deadline.

julianne and matt are following the government advice. they're looking for new customers elsewhere. there are so many things in the pipeline at the moment for us, which is so exciting. we've got some big potential clients in the middle east and we're on the cusp of signing a deal in the us with a large distributor. it's often the case that - shocks to the economy have some positive impacts. there is a possibility that, - you know, some companies had got stuck in their ways| and brexit is the shock required to make them open up their eyes to l opportunities further overseas. so anything that shakes up - the economy and makes us think a bit more globally isn't necessarily a bad thing.

we already know that movement of goods is becoming more difficult. companies are working their way round it, especially large companies, because of course they've got the resource to throw at it. it's still pretty difficult for small businesses who just don't have the staff or the experience. acoustic guitar plays some companies have hit road blocks rather than bumps. that came off a robbie williams tour. that had a dragon on it. that was the dragon, basically. yeah. from his hampshire base, robert hewett transports concert equipment for some of the world's biggest stars. this is all recycled coldplay stage set. you like that?

music tours have been cancelled because of covid. but the pandemic is disguising a brexit issue. lorries from the uk can no longer make more than two drop—offs during journeys in the eu. so even without covid, his multi—stop european tour business was grounded. so as you can see we have an awful lot of trailers standing here, and normally this place would be empty, completely empty. stagetruck used to transport kit for at least 50 european tours a year. it has more than a hundred trucks and employs 130 people. including robert's daughter, aime. i don't think we should let richard see that picture of you fast asleep, aime, should we? i know. 0ur sense of humour. they'll get the wrong idea.

it's bizarre because basically we were the forgotten industry when it came to brexit. it was almost as if they didn't know we existed. these are the kinds of goods that we are storing at the minute. so, these are some logs. in the first few months, they survived by transporting anything. we've gone from rock'n�*roll to toilet rolls. we're transporting everything and anything from toilet rolls to logs. the government says it's disappointed the eu didn't accept its proposals for the music industry, and it's encouraging member states to be flexible.

what we're looking at is the rear yard of our facility in holland, which is a four—acre site. robert's spent £3.5 million on this new depot, which he hopes will keep his lorries on the road. the reason we bought the facility in holland was purely because of brexit. by having that dutch space in mainland europe, enables us to be able to tour the rest of europe without any problems. it's not a one—off. we've discovered eu countries have helped at least 2,300 uk companies set up in europe since the brexit vote. some will now pay less tax in the uk. 0ur income will actually now not all come into the uk. a lot of it will go into holland. so the treasury will receive less money, and i think it

will be severely hit with the loss of income from uh the entertainment industry and supporting companies. at this moment, for us, it's a disaster. it's been a hundred days since the uk left the single market. julianne and matt have something to celebrate. we have got the malta order finally leaving after i don't know how long it's been. it was ordered on the 11th of january and it's now april. malta has accepted that their vegan products don't require an animal health certificate. is there another roll of stickers for me? but there's more bureaucracy —

every snack bar needs a label with an eu address. every single box needs to be opened, and it's a tiny little label for every single product, so yeah, it's quite an arduous task but needs must, that's what brexit does. after a three—month delay, the maltese delivery is finally on its way. it was a difficult winter, but spring has brought optimism. brexit has made them look at new markets. and orders are coming in fast. we would send in single—palette orders into the eu at the moment.

with the middle east, we're doing multiple palettes. i think canada will probably be half containers but ameri... no, it'sjust been confirmed that we are going to be going with a 20—foot container. well, there you go. so that is really exciting. i think it's wrong to assume thatjust because the eu . is currently our biggest - and closest trading partner, it will remain so for future. the eu is going to be - a relatively slow—growing part of the global economy. the growth markets are going to be in the developing worldl where we don't currently have trade deals so, - i think there's a danger of - overestimating the importance of the eu and underestimating the growth potential— in other markets. if you look at the next 20, 30, a0 years, then the asia—pacific region is going to get much bigger, and more important. but that's a 20, 30, iio—year play. how do you make up the difference right now? you can't with foreign markets.

the biggest brexit bumps have been in northern ireland. unlike the rest of the uk, it's still part of the european single market. that means some goods face customs checks when they arrive in northern ireland from britain. andrew lynas runs supermarkets and a food supply business in coleraine. if you eat food out of the home, that's what we do, restaurants, pubs, chip shops, schools, hospitals, prisons — that's our market. his company has an annual turnover of £155 million and employs 550 people. hello zara, hillary. busy today?

it is. yeah. normal thursday. trade with britain is now governed by special rules for northern ireland. this protocol means new costs and complications for andrew's british suppliers. we're seeing lots of administration fees, extra costs being added onto invoices purely because they can't get their head around the protocol, and i understand that. we struggle to get our head around the protocol! those new rules mean andrew is no longer working with 30 of his british suppliers. supermarkets have been spared from the protocol, but that ends in october and andrew's worried. there is some risk that supermarket shelves might be empty or what will happen is that certain product lines just won't be there because the hassle for a gb supplier getting into ni willjust be too much.

the government says the current situation is not sustainable for long. it says it's working with the eu to address the issues, but will consider all options if solutions cannot be found. what is concerning to some is that northern ireland is being economically separated from great britain, and being pushed closer to europe and ireland. 0ur supply chains will become more european. in fact, recently in a board meeting, we joked that it would be easier to go to a trade show in france than actually to go to a trade show in england. so it's going to become more european, more irish. now, there's a lot of pluses to that, but unless we get a pragmatic solution to the protocol, i don't see any other solution. is he dead or is hejust upside down? dead.

across the water in scotland, jamie still isn't sure what brexit will mean for his shellfish company. this is the paperwork to send products to the eu. five months since we left the single market, he's still struggling with the bureaucracy. he used to just fill in one delivery note. now, one delivery to the eu can need more than 80 pages of forms. paperwork. it's just madness. it's so much a waste of paper, a waste of time, a waste of environment, a waste of cost. research carried out before

brexit estimated this type of bureaucracy will cost british businesses £7.5 billion a year. that's three hours' work every morning that we export to the eu. three hours' work to do all that paperwork. the government says it's working with the eu to resolve trade issues. and it's acted swiftly to provide financial support to the fishing industry and coastal communities. butjamie's decided to change his whole business model. we are not doing any eu at the moment. the last six or seven days, we've not sent anything to the eu, because it's costing us money to sell to europe just in customs fees. i am now more focussing again more strongly in the far east.

he sends pictures of his catch direct to new customers in asia. and they send back their orders. i need another one for singapore, and one for hong kong. he's hoping his new customers will save his business. i think it's something to do with the queen's birthday in taiwan. they are wanting me to supply the grand hyatt with 200 guests for the 7th or 8th ofjune, delivery into the grand hyatt in taiwan. in simple terms, to export to china, hong kong or singapore, it is cheaper and quicker to export there than it is to france. so we're pushing sales in the uk and pushing sales into the far east to try and compensate for what we've lost in europe, but some days

i feel like i'm physically going to collapse because i'm so exhausted. michael, the course? all finished? you haven't finished the course? the course? yeah, finished the course. yeah. robert's plan to save his music touring business has hit another problem. basing his trucks in holland will allow the vehicles to move more freely around europe. but now he's discovered his british drivers won't be able to drive them. we thought, you know, we've invested £3.5 million by buying a facility in europe, to overcome the brexit thing, and be ahead of the game, and then this hit us.

the solution involves another eu country. ireland, which has special rules. if robert's drivers get irish licences, then european tours should be possible. he now has to pay £130,000 for them all to attend a training course in ireland. hope you've got clean feet. they have kitted out a trailer for accommodation. tv, microwave, fridge, i and the most underrated but most important thing, air conditioning. _ the people here, they have got families and everything else. we're making decisions about their lives and they are trusting us so it would be nice to have some guidance at some point, but in the meantime, we get on with it, that's what we do and we're here and we won't let them

down, you know. luckily i retire next year, i'm old enough! he was talking about cutting down to three days a week! i i've never worked so hard in my life! he's never done more hours! the government says it's helping businesses trade effectively with europe and seize new opportunities in the world's fastest—growing markets. it's also directly supporting some firms. after the brexit vote, there'd been fears the nissan car plant in sunderland would close. but last week, the company announced a major expansion, backed by government funding. so is the uk on track for brexit success?

it's not been a disaster, which is what some people were predicting. but the reality is that it's really difficult to say with clarity at the moment, only six months in, in the middle of a global pandemic, what has been caused by brexit. what's happening now, although it might be very bad in many sectors, i don't think that's necessarily a sign of things to come. if anything, this might be the point where we say this is the worst and things will get better from here. it's summer, six months since the uk fundamentally changed the way it trades with europe. 0ur businesses had to adapt to survive. jamie's 40% down on his pre—brexit sales of shellfish. but new orders are still coming in. it's either going to be manchester or heathrow... ..on tuesday night as well

because i've got a dubai one. dubai. he's now been told he will be partially compensated for the shellfish he lost injanuary. if we do get what we applied for in the application, then i might be a bit more happier and there might be a bit less of a bad taste in the mouth. he's now been told he will be partially compensated for the shellfish he lost injanuary. if we do get what we applied for in the application, then i might be a bit more happier and there might be a bit less of a bad taste in the mouth. brexit has cost robert's music business nearly £4.5 million, but he thinks it will survive. julianne and matt have already seen a 50% rise in sales.

and they're now expecting a major us deal. in northern ireland, brexit has cost andrew's business around £200,000. he's hoping that trade will get easier. my father always taught me to stay away from politics, and stay away from blaming one side or the other. and i think that's the thing about us business people — we just want a pragmatic solution. i can see faults in the eu, i think there are far too many checks. but i can also see faults in the uk side — they have to give, too. and that's the word that's needed right now �* some compromise. it's been a bumpy six months for uk businesses. some are finding brexit solutions. while others are still struggling to survive the change.

this is bbc news. i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: the olympic torch arrives in tokyo, two weeks before the games, but no spectators are allowed. president biden says he won't send another generation of americans to afghanistan, as he confirms the us will end its mission next month, even as the taliban gains ground. nearly 20 years of experience has shown us that the current security situation only confirms thatjust one more year fighting in afghanistan is not a solution. a plea to eat less meat causes beef in spain, as a minister suggests spaniards should cut their meat consumption and help save the planet. and it was women's semifinals day at wimbledon, so who is through to the finals?

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