THE reality of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit hit with a jolt with the first significant export figures of the year.

A 40 per cent drop in UK exports to the European Union since Mr Johnson effectively shut down the border that we once had in favour of a system that does not work is a large chunk of our trade.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove sends out his excuses for putting back certain checks on imports until 2022, because of coronavirus.

Food and drink producers are about four weeks away from the implementation of the next layer of red tape around composite foods.

The industries worst hit so far say the export figures are "grim".

There are fears parts of the fish and shellfish market, where alongside food and drink the export reduction for January was closer to 64%, have already collapsed.

Changes in imports and exports, by goods commodity group, excluding unspecified goods, January 2021 compared with December 2020, EU and non-EU (Source: ONS).

The business of exporting what we produce and importing what we need is placed under unprecedented and unnecessary pressure.

Cabinet Office minister Lord Frost of Allenton responds: "As a sovereign trading nation outside the EU, we have freedom to take decisions in our national interest, and in the interest of our businesses.”

Pushing back border controls, while undoubtedly needed, is hailed as a decisive move but its architects didn’t have much choice given their woeful timetabling around upgrading existing border operations, and again the rhetoric rings hollow. There’s little evidence of the Boris bunch acting in the interests of business.

The Herald: The scene at Dover earlier this year. Gareth Fuller/PA.The scene at Dover earlier this year. Gareth Fuller/PA.

The Brexit future is still very uncertain and while there are signs of some more recent pick-up, "the longer term impact on supply chains will depend on how attractive the UK remains and the competition from other locations within the EU", says Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK.

So far this UK Government has managed to win us the worst coronavirus record in Europe and make trade routes that were once freely traversable treacherous.

The recklessness of Brexiters like Jacob Rees-Mogg in insisting the folly of starting conflict from afar with our trade partners whilst the world was in the grip of its first modern pandemic will be a key factor in the future public inquiries into how it all went so badly.

In his Called to Account column this week, Business Editor Ian McConnell writes that Tories have sent an anti-business message, but not with corporation tax rise in the Budget, writing “when it comes to any signal that the UK is not 'pro-business' – it is the Tory Brexit”.

Business Correspondent Kristy Dorsey highlighted in her employment focus another area where the UK could take a leaf out of the EU book, the gender pay gap. One in 10 Britons believe it to be “fake news”, research released to mark International Women’s Day showed.

Not even a third of the British public believe closing the gender pay gap is important, against 51% in France, 46% in Spain and 44% in Italy.

Elsewhere, as the sale of another high-profile company was agreed this week, Deputy Business Editor Scott Wright turned the spotlight on Glasgow-based Aggreko, who provide power at sporting events like the 2018 European Championships, and what the move means for Scottish business.

That came as Business Correspondent Mark Williamson told that when Edinburgh fintech star Nucleus Financial published terms of a £145 million takeover it is set to agree, it provoked “significant anxiety”.