SO Siobhan Baillie MP is fronting an export campaign for Stroud and Gloucestershire businesses (SNJ 10.2.2021).

Could this be to make up for the business and jobs we are now losing with Brexit?

When I wrote to her last summer to ask her to vote to extend the transition period for trading with the EU, she refused, - despite the Covid and Brexit chaos with the threats to local jobs and businesses.

Since Brexit on December 31, many Stroud businesses have suffered costly red tape, delays and lost orders when trying to trade with the EU.

Johnson’s free trade deal was not ‘frictionless’, as he claimed.

Even moving our books goods between Stroud and Northern Ireland and Eire, has become difficult.

We sent training books on January 8 for a course on February 18, which were eventually returned.

Book orders haven’t been getting through to N Ireland and Eire due to all the new Brexit regulations.

So much for ‘free trade’.

My questions to national export champion Siobhan Baillie MP include:

‘When can we export books to N Ireland and Eire without any risk of them being sent back?

‘What compensation will HMG pay us for such Brexit red tape delays and returned goods?

‘What is she doing to reduce the red tape and extra costs businesses now face when trading with the EU?”

I’d be interested to know how Brexit red tape is affecting other Stroud businesses?

Martin Large

Hawthorn Press

Stroud