LEAVING the EU was not a “one-off shock” that businesses will be able to adjust to and the effects of "Brexit 2.0" are now being felt, according to a finance journalist and author.

BREXIT and the pandemic have left Fife Council short of everything from timber, bricks and plastics to food, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and microchips – and the disruption is "likely to get worse".

“Europe is setting new and ambitious standards, paving the way for the rest of the world.” / The European parliament has voted to ban single-use plastic cutlery, cotton buds, straws and stirrers as part of a sweeping law against plastic waste that despoils beaches and pollutes oceans.

MEPs have the power to approve, amend or reject nearly all EU legislation. / So what have they achieved in this five-year term?

The European Union has banned all non-recyclable plastic waste being shipped to developing nations from 1 January.

Post-Brexit regulation doesn’t match new EU rules to tackle ocean pollution, despite UK being Europe’s largest plastic waste producer.