It was all a mistake.
There were two fundamental flaws. Firstly we thought we could trust what politicians told us and second we asked the great unwashed about a subject they had no knowledge of, namely international trade. Much was made of migration as the basis for leaving, but of course history will prove that post-Brexit things have got MUCH worse. You have to laugh, no?
Can we even now remember the lies we were told? How many millions a week 'WE' were going to save (this presumably did not factor in £290m to Rewanda for delivering sweet FA).
Boris on his 'Get Brexit Done' bus, keen to get somewhere, in fact anywhere, to further the Tory love machine. I quite liked Boris to start with (against a backdrop of career politicians who achievs the best part of nothing), but his downfall was his inability to differentiate between the truth (of which there was very little) and lies (which just streamed from his mouth like a tsunami).
No, we can't blame Boris or the Tory hangers on who later spent zillions in Covid on field hospitals which were never used or PPE which lined the pockets of their mates and were eventually burnt at the stake. WE are the mugs. WE should have known and gone the other way.
Yes, I favoured less governance from Brussels, but what we have now is a complete disaster for small or emerging business.
I used to be able to ship in windows and hatches, work on them and ship them out, charging VAT as if clients were her rather than in Europe. Little admin, quick and easy, minimal bureacracy.
Now it's a disaster for us. Sure, if we shipped daily like the larger companies we would be slick in process and probably have dedicated resource, but we're not. Temporary imports are irregular which means for every one I have to read my notes and try to remember what I need to do, what forms I need to complete, commercial invoice to generate, customs and commodity code to confirm. And then every three months there are the BOD1 (Bill of Discharge) forms for pen pushers in HMRC. A task made more difficult when couriers don't follow instructions and use the wrong codes. More red tape, more forms, more incentive for saying let's just stop this crap.
We fought for an IPR (inward processing relief) number and a DAN (can't remember what this stands for but it defers tax). They gave us a code for CHIEFS which would fit on the paperwork, but then upgraded to a new customs system (CPS) which has a code so long it won't fit on the page (GBIPO33579038400020201102125058 - very well done HMRC). We have to use CPS, but HMRC systems will only allow an online BOD1 submission using CHIEFS. It's rubbish!
So, we've given up on IPR and now just reclaim the inward VAT. There's a timing delay but it's the easier pill for us. Our DAN was removed when the pen pushers demanded financials which were available online in our accounts at Companies House. Apparently my suggesting they get up off their lazy ass and look these up was beyond their pale and we are thus barred.
Has Brexit been worth it? Not for us and let's be frank, even for the great unwashed I doubt they see any advantage.
As for having to pay UK VAT on returning yachts that have paid UK VAT, what a complete load of boll*^ks. But why should we be suprised? Some time ago I calculated that every £1 you pay us gives me 41p of personal spend, the rest (59p) is tax in one form or another. As we get older we realise we exist only to pay tax so incompetent politicians at national and local level can waste our money, with zero accountability. It's just as well I enjoy talking to you lot about boats....
Goodnight and let's all sail away....