Tomorrow is a dark day for small businesses in the UK

[lostmybuttons]

I run a small business, mostly selling on Etsy. But as of tomorrow, Friday 13th December the introduction of the new GPSR legislation is creating such a huge headache for businesses like mine.

We can no longer sell to the EU or Northern Ireland, without paying for an appointed representative to ensure our products are safe. The cost for this is completely unachievable for most businesses like mine. Obviously, we all want our products to be as safe as possible but is it right that it'll cost me at least £2,000 a year to tell me my paper stationery is safe!!

Our only choice is to stop selling to the EU and Northern Ireland, which is a huge loss in income for those already struggling.

We feel like we are shouting into the void and absolutely no one is listening.

This is compounded by the fact that Etsy refuse to separate Northern Ireland in our shipping settings, so by default we are all breaking the legislation and risking fine of up to £20,000.

All Etsy have advised is to cancel any NI orders, which frankly is terrible customer service.

If there was ever a time to shop independent, your small business friends need you now.

But the bottom line is we had no cross channel migration pre the UK officially leaving the EU.

As in pp you are missing asylum claims peaking in 2002

Do you really think it didn't happen?

Here you go....

• *The number of asylum applications in the UK peaked in 2002, and then fell sharply to a low point of 17,916 in 2010. The number of applications rose again throughout the 2010s, and reached 81,130 in 2022, the highest number since 2002.

From 2003 to 2021, numbers were around 20k to 40k per year, what do you think changed in 2021? any ideas?

So you can see the Dublin Agreement did not deter 84k coming over in 2002 right?

There is no point paying 1000s to cross but risk being sent back.

This in your pp doesn't make sense and isn't correct.

Dublin 2, wasn't in force until 2003, when asylum cases plummeted.

We also don't know where many of these asylum cases came from, if they flew in on visas, over staying, then claiming, Dublin 2 would have been irrelevant.

BUT if you believe deporting 200 people would see x channel migration fall, then its reasonable to assume the Dublin 2 agreement would also act as a deterrent.

Leaving the EU has been a colossal mistake and is leading to the UK giving visas to 100s of 1000s of people, from very different cultures, yet still having labour shortages.

& back to the OP, making trade & study far harder, mostly for a generation that had no say.

There have been thousands each year regardless of the Dublin Agreement, clearly the claim that
There is no point paying 1000s to cross but risk being sent back.
Isn't correct.

I'm surprised anyone thinks that there hasn't been anyone granted asylum during those years.

Of course 1000s, i ve not said otherwise have i? & in the case of asylum seekers who travelled through the EU, there was definitely the risk of being sent back.
But now we have 10s of 1000s.... we cannot, given lack of housing, lack of money & a public sector on its knees, take this number, its not sustainable nor desirable, esp as we cannot in most cases, return, the public are losing patience.

There is no point paying 1000s to cross but risk being sent back.

So there was a point in paying thousands to cross. And they did.
The Agreement hasn't been a deterrent anywhere 'land border' or not.

People are getting mixed up on what a deterrent actually is.

As for the public losing patience well of course they are. The Labour gov are trying to use 'smash the gangs' which is about effective as a teaspoon and a tide. Many believed it would work on mn pre GE of course which was mad with the usual attacks by pro Labour.

Starmer will struggle due to that. Another few summers of rising numbers and we'll likely see politics shift here too as it is in the EU

There is a pact coming in which may change things the only disclaimer

Hang on!! people weren't crossing in small boats pre january 2021, so yes the Dublin agreement did work.

People didn't use the trafficking model anything like as much as they do and flying in was the most common method of getting here ie not via EU.

The previous Govts attempts didn't work either & we don't have a Nauru sitting off-shore to use.

So whats the alternative?
I'm not a fan of silly 3 word slogans, they rarely work but stopping criminal activity and better co op with the EU is the only option atm, we aren't even fully in Europol post Brexit.

Ironically, the overthrow of Assad, might mean Syrians stay in the region and ones here return... watch our politicians claim credit should numbers reduce!!!

people weren't crossing in small boats pre january 2021, so yes the Dublin agreement did work.

It's because you're missing the numbers by lorries.

Even with the agreement in place thousands entered this way. It wasn't the DA that deterred people but other measures. When that happened profiteering turned to boats

The number of attempts to stowaway at Channel ports have declined as hauliers and authorities take measures.
Figures obtained by the BBC show stowaway cases plummeted from about 83,000 in 2015 to 18,000 in 2021.

83,000 in 2015 shows your statement isn't correct

As for what to do start with having a view that isn't solely backlash, look at what works elsewhere and recognise gangs are now multi billion organisations with sophisticated methods

We probably won't act first given Labour, maybe Germany will

I don't know how this turned into a conversation about small boats, but I have returned to update after my meeting with a compliance agency.

To get my low risk, handmade products labelled, confirmed safe and appoint an EU representative will cost circa £2500 for the first year and then £120 a month after that. Mine is fairly simple as rather than listing each individual SKU (I've got over 2000), it can be done per fabric I use, so that reduces it down to about 500. A phenomenal amount of work as well as the cost as I will need a product sheet for every individual fabric design.

I'm a small business, but much bigger than a lot of people struggling with these regulations. Even for me, I can't justify the cost or the time right now. That might change, but certainly for the immediate future I won't be trading with NI or the EU.

It’s this spiteful jealousy I hate. The mentally of some people are so bitter I wonder if their insides are rotten too

How mean spirited of them not to let people join forces. It's as if they want small businesses to fail.

It is more likely small businesses were just not considered rather than intent to harm

Thanks that's really helpful. For the moment I've decided not to sell to the EU until I can get a handle on it, but very good to know there are options.

No. The Good Friday Agreement predates Brexit and is a vital treaty that must be upheld to maintain the ceasefire in NI. Lives literally depend upon it.

What upholding GFA would mean when leaving the EU is something that David Cameron and his govt should have thought about before offering a referendum.

This whole mess is the fault of a lot of politicians, that twat who owns Wetherspoons, and 17.4m Leave voters who were daft enough to believe that a slogan on a bus was a promise of more money for the NHS.

Spot on - Northern Ireland is now trapped half in the EU and half in the UK thanks to Brexit, Johnson and his lies when PM.

No shit Sherlock.

You asked me if I was blaming GFA for this mess and I replied with who I do blame. Why the rudeness?

The post you mentioned the GFA sounded like you were blaming it not sure what you meant then you write a post saying the GFA predates Brexit. How thick do you think people on here are.

And Theresa May getting the DUP to prop her Government up from 2017 didn't help the people of NI.

How thick do you think people on here are.

Well, clearly I didn't think they were "thick" (your word choice) enough to interpret "We don't have the choice because of the Good Friday Agreement" in the context of all my other posts as anything other than a statement of fact about being bound by a treaty.

Well, whatever she did (or didn't) do, Northern Ireland's status doesn't fit in with Brexit unless we went down the 'Switzerland' or 'Norway' route.