Issue #134 - The Brexit Issue 🤔

10 years on, how’s Brexit been for your business? 📊 | How do standing charges work? 🔢 | Do you need employers’ liability insurance? ⚠️ | Filth Florist 💐 | Words | Tunes | More

GO 🦾

10 years on, how’s Brexit been for your business? 📊

Welcome to The Backbone Issue #134. The fortnightly Bionic newsletter 🦾

It’s been 10 years since UK voters put pen to paper and opted to leave the EU.

So much has happened in the last decade that it’s easy to forget that it took another four years and three Prime Ministers to finally “Get Brexit Done” - to coin the phrase that dragged political discourse into three-word mantras over reasoned debate.

Much was promised - less red tape, more control, a boom in homegrown demand - but what was actually delivered?

The Brexit dream vs. reality

Back in 2017, just six months after the Brexit vote, more than half (56%) of small business owners thought that leaving the EU might open up opportunities, according to research by Novuna Business Finance.

The main reasons for this optimism included a belief that the UK Government would do more to support British small businesses (22%), less red tape (21%), and the hope that UK consumers would now be more likely to buy goods from UK businesses (18%).

Fast forward to 2026, and it’s safe to say the mood has shifted somewhat, as one in five small businesses say Brexit is still actively holding them back. For London businesses, that figure rises to one in four - higher than any other region in the country.

The Guardian reports that as many as 20,000 businesses stopped exporting to the EU altogether. And many of those who carried on complain that the government’s “hard Brexit for Britain” catered for the “blue chips”, not the small, backbone businesses.

The Brexit experience

The experience of Simon Spurrell, a Cheshire cheesemaker, is that Brexit created a kind of British Business Battle Royale (or Hunger Games, depending on your cultural reference points), as he said: “Small producers are just trapped on this island, and we’re all fighting each other for the same market share.”

Sadly, Brexit left him with a £250,000 hole in his small but fast-growing firm, and he ultimately lost his business.

When you look at the following figures, it highlights what Simon and business owners like him have been up against. Exports of farm products to the EU, from beef to cheese, fell by 37.4% in the five years from 2019, according to analysis of HMRC data by the National Farmers’ Union.

And Tony Rutherford, a Devon fisherman who voted leave to save the British fishing industry, describes Brexit as an “Absolute nightmare, shambles, and still is to this day.”

Phil Ward, owner of Eskimo, a Bristol-based firm that produces high-fashion and energy-efficient electric radiators, saw his exports to the EU drop from 40% in 2020 to just 5% by 2025.

We tried to find some positive stories, but there don’t seem to be many for British business owners, outside of those that make complex, high-value stuff or are in the financial services and Fintech sectors.

City AM reports that “in complex manufacturing…Brexit Britain has found some major success stories”, while other reports herald that “the UK remains Europe’s leading fintech hub.”

But in most interviews marking the anniversary, the day-to-day reality is described as a “total nightmare” of paperwork, border delays and rising costs, particularly for those still trading with the EU.

The Brexit debate

While Brexit may be “done” politically, it seems to be the opposite operationally.

For many SMEs, it’s become part of the furniture - a permanent extra step, an extra form, an extra cost. The kind of friction that doesn’t kill a business outright, but quietly chips away at growth.

It’s there in delayed shipments, duplicated compliance, and longer payment cycles. All the unglamorous stuff that never made it onto a campaign bus.

Not that every story is bleak. Some businesses have adapted, diversified, or just gritted their teeth and carried on. Many have had no choice. But adaptation isn’t the same as benefit, and survival isn’t the same as growth.

And that’s really the crux of it. The Brexit debate was always framed in sweeping, macro terms - GDP, sovereignty, trade deals, the grand arc of the UK economy. But ten years in, the story on the ground looks very different. It’s not about ideology anymore, it’s about invoices.

We’ll leave the last word to Jo Morris, Head of Insight at Novuna Business Finance: “There are differing views on Brexit today, as there were in 2016. For some small businesses, it has been greeted as an opportunity, for others, Brexit is still viewed as a challenge. The one thing that hasn’t changed over 10 years is that people continue to disagree on whether Brexit is a good or a bad idea.”

How has Brexit been for your business? Let us know in the poll below (honestly, if this ends up as a 48-52 split…)

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🙌 COMMUNITY

Join our community of small business superheroes 🦸‍♀️

Small business owners are the superheroes of the high street. But small business owners rarely get their voices heard. Now there’s a place to chat, share advice and help each other through the lows and highs of running a business. To get involved, scan or click the QR code above or click the button below to sign up.

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🗞 READ

How do standing charges work on business energy contracts? 🔢

Most business energy contracts come with a standing charge. This is a flat fee that’s charged daily, regardless of whether or not you use any gas or electricity. Find out what they’re used for and how much they are right now, along with the pros and cons of a no-standing-charge energy deal.

Do you need employers’ liability insurance? ⚠️

If you run a business and take on staff, even temporarily, would you need employers’ liability insurance? This guide cuts through the jargon and tells you exactly where you stand, whether you’re a sole trader, limited company director, or anyone in between.

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🗣 SHOUTOUT

#BionicBusinessStory - Filth Florist 💐

Inside Filth Florist - Rosy Sida shares how she built a creative floristry business from scratch and turned it into a thriving brand.

Bionic: How did the business get started?
Rosy Sida: “We started during the second lockdown. I was unemployed during that time. I set up Filth. I had nothing to lose.”

B: What makes Filth Florist different?
RS: “We’re a bespoke studio. Every single piece of work we create is completely unique, we don’t do anything by cookie-cutter standards.”

B: How has the business evolved?
RS: “When I first started, I was just doing the weekly bouquets, but over the last three years we’ve pretty much become a wedding and event studio.”

B: What’s been your biggest achievement?
RS: “Building a business which is sustainable and actually works as a business. That’s probably a really obvious thing to say, but building a business that works is a really difficult thing to do.”

B: What challenges have you faced?
RS: “One struggle has been the cost of flowers increasing dramatically. Trying to communicate the increase in price to people is not easy either.”

B: How have you adapted to those challenges?
RS: “Moving to the wedding side of business was a direct result of the increase in flower costs. The margins are just so small now.”

B: What do you enjoy most about running the business?
RS: “Working for myself and being able to manage my time how I want. The freedom you get from that is huge.”

B: What advice would you give to other business owners?
RS: “You don’t have to listen. I think you’ll know your business best.”

Check out more of our small business stories over at Bionic or watch along on YouTube. And, if you need some fantastic flora, check out the Filth Florist shop.

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📊 BUSINESS

Get your business costs sorted 💷

Bionic is the comparison site for your small business. We compare a range of business essentials to help you save time, money, and hassle.

Our tech-enabled team will answer all your questions in simple terms and help you find the best deal on business energy, insurance, phone, broadband, or finance. No jargon. No-fuss. #BeABionicBusiness 🦾

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🎧 LISTEN

Playlist 🎶

As the Brexit debate takes us back ten years, we’ve dug back an entire decade for this week’s playlist - 2016’s Now That’s What I Call Music 94 features Drake, Coldplay, Bastille, Dua Lipa, David Guetta, Tinie Tempah, Craig David, and loads more. It’s also made us realise that we were already really old ten years ago.

Podcast 🎙

Joe and James (Thomas and Buckley from The Inbetweeners) discuss interesting facts that have been lurking at the backs of their brains, or they’ve found on the internet. There are also bits about waht’s going on in their lives and reminisces on their favourite moments from The Inbetweeners.

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🏡 HOUSEKEEPING

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🚫 STOP

Thanks for making it to the end of another Bionic small business bulletin 🤝🏻

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