It would be fair to say that businesses in Somerset are now really starting to feel the effects of Brexit and our new trade deals with the EU and the rest of the world. From all the businesses I have spoken to so far the effects have ranged from bureaucratic nightmares with unnecessary paperwork and extra costs to complete shutdowns of exports.

I have been looking at how our local SMEs have been coping with the new post-Brexit trading arrangements which have come on top of the challenges posed by the Covid-19 crisis.