Brexit: Sports clothes company forced to relocate to Romania to allow business to ‘survive and grow’

In news that will once again cause Remainers to grit their teeth and say ‘told you so’, a sports clothing company has relocated to Romania to avoid the costs and bureaucracy associated with… Brexit.

Zoe Alexander, which specialises in tennis clothes for children announced it would be bidding farewell to the UK last Autumn and is now in the process of doing just that.

In a statement, the company said: “We are now relocated in Europe.

“Sadly, due to Brexit and UK lockdown restrictions, we had to leave England to allow our business to survive and grow.”

By moving back inside the single market, companies with a large EU customer base can transport goods in bulk, avoiding the charges on individual items that have led to higher costs. They can also avoid the problem of VAT charges hitting their customers.

Meanwhile, a recent survey of 651 UK companies by the Institute of Directors for the Financial Times found that of those that trade with the EU, 31 per cent said they had suffered negative impacts on their trade to customers in EU member states. Only 6 per cent said things had got better since Brexit, and 58 per cent said that nothing had changed.

Brexit. It really is the gift that keeps on giving…