Deal or no deal, British companies will have to confront a wall of bureaucracy that threatens chaos at the border if they want to sell into the world’s biggest trading bloc when life after Brexit begins on January 1.

Lord Wolfson is a highly successful businessman, a prominent supporter of Brexit and a Conservative peer. He is, in short, the sort of man who should be in perfect alignment with a government led by Boris Johnson. He isn’t.

Saturday 20 February was the 50th day since Boris Johnson’s Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) came into effect. Anyone expecting it to settle all questions, or even most of the details, of how we will do business with the EU from now on will be mightily disappointed.

U.K. companies exporting into the European Union will have to wait for permission from tax authorities before they can move their goods under plans being drawn up by the government.

Government taking days to respond to queries, say stuggling businesses.

It appears HM Treasury has realised bringing in a measure that will so obviously lead to higher food prices is not a good idea when the country is in the grip of an inflation spiral.

Memo warns of ‘critical gaps’ in new IT systems – with just four months to go to end of transition.

Another Brexit advertising campaign. They've replaced sporting events as signs of the changing seasons. Instead of Wimbledon or the Olympics, we get Michael Gove talking gibberish on television and further millions poured into preparedness exercises for an outcome with no tangible benefits.

Essential post-Brexit freight software is unlikely to be ready on time for 1 January, those building it have warned.

New supply chains, brand new system, and ... oh dear, it's still not ready yet.

The "only detectable impact" of Brexit on British businesses so far is "increased costs, paperwork and border delays", says the chair of a prominent parliamentary committee.

This week, the practical realities of what Brexit is going to mean came into central focus for perhaps the first time, with a new government information campaign.

Food businesses sending products to the EU have had to fork out an extra £170m in export costs because of Brexit red tape, with the changes described as being “catastrophic” for some exporters. / Data shows costs have contributed to value of meat exports falling by 17% since 2019.

The U.K. government just presented a 206-page manual for how the country will trade with the European Union on Jan. 1, when Britain’s exit from the 27-nation bloc becomes official 4 1/2 years after the nation voted to leave.

Customs officers, border police, plant and veterinary inspectors, offices, carparks and IT systems are among the 'unheard of' expenses of reestablishing full border controls.

British traders are falling foul of a new information technology system policing goods crossing the English Channel, as companies grapple with a fresh wave of post-Brexit red tape.

Scottish firms have been “thrown to the wolves” over the post-Brexit trade chaos at cross-channel ports and the situation may worsen, MSPs have been warned.

UK and European negotiators are meeting later today for yet another round of Brexit trade talks.

A UK government system to avoid miles of road traffic congestion in the county of Kent as the Brexit transition period comes to an end will rely on software which is not yet in its beta version.

UK hauliers of perishable goods are wanting to be prioritised at the port crossing into Europe, complaining that long wait times are causing products to go bad.

Inflation is rising, worker shortages are grinding us down and consumers are hurting, but No.10 is introducing measures which will make the situation worse

“Car crash!” exclaimed managing director Andrew Varga, whose Brexit progress I have been following since the referendum. News of the latest Brexit U-turn landed on him on Tuesday out of the blue. All his years of preparation for a new UK product safety mark, all his thousands of pounds wasted, all the uncountable hours and effort were rendered pointless, at a stroke.

Northern Ireland traders call for an extension to Brexit deal grace periods amid warnings they’re drowning in paperwork.

Treasury committee says confidence in preparations has collapsed amid customs chiefs’ doubts that IT system will be ready. There will be a fivefold increase in customs checks at Dover and other UK ports after Brexit, an influential group of MPs has found.

Go-live deadline of 2019 whooshed by - and that's going to cost taxpayer £173m.

TRADERS hoping to pass goods through the UK’s busiest port have been hit by further trouble after the Government's post-Brexit IT system went down.

'Patience is wearing thin' with the UK on the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol, the European Commission's vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, has warned, adding the EU could retaliate by suspending some cooperation and imposing tariffs.

The transition period ended on 31 December 2020. Since that date, trade volumes have been suppressed by the impact of COVID-19, EU exit, and wider global pressures. It may not be possible to separate out the impact of these individual elements on the UK’s trade with the EU, but it is clear that EU exit has had an impact, and that new border arrangements have added costs to business.

The European Union is ready to consider tougher retaliatory measures if the U.K. government fails to implement its post-Brexit obligations over Northern Ireland, according to an EU official.

Declaration system may be swamped, leaving trucks stranded, with risk of price hikes and shortages.

Europe-bound trains won’t stop at Ashford and Ebbsfleet International stations for at least ‘two to three years’.

Customs experts and leading supermarkets warn produce such as meat, fruit and vegetables could be in short supply in Northern Ireland.

Just as firms wrestle with a global supply chain crisis and fresh pandemic restrictions, companies in the U.K. and European Union face another looming headache: More post-Brexit red tape.

U.K. traders are falling foul of a new IT system policing goods crossing the English Channel, as companies grapple with a fresh wave of post-Brexit red tape.

Risk of European firms turning backs on British produce ‘a nightmare scenario’, trade body warns.

Work on inspection posts for animal products crossing Irish Sea ‘has not yet started and will take up to six months to complete’.

Export firms point to post-Brexit delays around health certificates, IT systems and missing customs papers.

The new Irish Sea border will involve as many as 30 million customs declarations annually on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

A 23-mile stretch of the M20 is closed amid HMRC technical problems and a ferry shortage.

The Road Haulage Association takes aim at the Cabinet Office minister's engagement in a letter seen exclusively by Sky News.

Lorries will need permission from new HMRC computer system before heading for Dover.

Hauliers have claimed there will be "mayhem" at Holyhead port when the Brexit transition period ends.

Glitches in IT systems designed to manage the movement of goods from the EU to the UK are holding up shipments.

HMRC’s decision to delay the switch-off of customs system CHIEF was the inevitable consequence of its failure to adequately support traders in migrating to the new system.

HMRC's data centre migration is one of nearly 30 government IT projects that are stalling, a new report says.

CHIEF is expected to be closed down on 30 September 2022 after almost three decades in operation.

Report says delays have left Border Force officials reliant on 26-year-old technology

HONDA bosses are warning of ‘unprecedented’ disruption to its supply chain if Britain leaves the customs union after Brexit.

The UK and European Union are poised to enter the final stretch of negotiations over post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland. After years of distrust and tension both sides are optimistic that a settlement is within reach.

‘It’s not an effective system to actually ensure someone is ready to cross the border,’ says top logistics body.

Traffic hell getting to the county's ports has been exacerbated after it emerged a major post-Brexit customs system crashed - adding extra time for lorries heading to the Continent.

‘Worst case scenario’ also warns of passengers waiting hours to board Chunnel trains to continent.

International trade secretary tells PM and chancellor plans risk smuggling and damage to UK reputation.

The government has ordered a 27-acre site be transformed into a customs clearance centre

The government is being urged to quickly get a grip of teething problems with a new post-Brexit IT system that has left lorries unable to get into the UK.

Some lorries bringing goods from the EU to the UK have been stuck at the border for four days, as logistics bosses blamed disruption on “terrible” new Brexit red tape.

Cabinet Office minister warned hauliers that unless they get their post-Brexit paperwork in order there could be queues of up to 7,000 lorries.

The government agency said there had been a problem with some cameras after a 17k queue formed on the M20.

A 27-acre site is being built to handle trucks amid fears that new trade rules will slow freight movement. It has been nicknamed the “Farage Garage” after the pro-Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage.

"Companies are already having trouble with the system,” one reporter said. / A new post-Brexit IT system is creating huge lorry queues in the EU as vehicles are trying to bring various goods to the UK.

Commenting on the spate of recent media reports that the government is considering another delay to the introduction of post-Brexit border checks on goods entering Britain from the EU, the freight sector says that it comes as no great surprise.

Exclusive: document seen by the Guardian says core IT system not due to be tested until November.

First time ministers have admitted police will enforce need for ‘Kent access permit’.

The Port of Dover has called on the government to share the “rules of the game” when it comes to post-Brexit checks.

Documentary checks will start in three weeks. / In January, physical inspections will follow. / Before Brexit, no import checks were necessary with the UK being part of the EU’s frictionless cross-border trading model.

House of Lords hears costs related to chilled and fresh goods could prove a fatal barrier.

An error in the UK’s post-Brexit IT border system disrupted companies bringing goods in from the European Union, raising costs, adding bureaucracy and snarling deliveries.

Preparing Brexit: How ready is the UK? is our second report examining government and business preparations for the end of the transition period, building on Preparing Brexit: The scale of the task left for UK government and business, published in July.

Minister expected to frame move as a use of UK’s independent powers despite industry reports of unreadiness.

At least £1m worth of seafood a day will be stopped from leaving Scotland this week as delays continue at UK ports, according to an industry body.

It was a tale of two protocols as talks between Northern Ireland's political parties and the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly broke down when nationalist parties withdrew.

Some of the UK's biggest supermarkets are limiting sales of tomatoes and other salad items.

Britain’s plans for its border controls after Brexit will depend on a new and untested IT system being ready in time, according to a 206-page government blueprint that sets out the extra burden businesses will face from the year-end.

The UK is "sleepwalking into a disaster" over its border plans for the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December, road hauliers have warned.

Amid mounting concerns that the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) is not yet fit for purpose, the UK government will likely be forced to choose “flow or regulations” when the grace period for new customs regulations comes to an end on 31 December.

Technology glitch means fruit and vegetable importers can’t submit required paperwork from 1 January – and government still hasn’t worked out how to fix the problem.

The UK's food supply problems are at risk of getting worse because of additional Brexit red tape which will come into force in a matter of weeks, businesses have warned.

The UK government is still failing to understand the country’s supply chains, say logistics operators, or recognise their anxiety as more Brexit regulations loom.

‘There are certainly instruments that we may not have access to’, Foreign Secretary says - after police chiefs warned of ‘major impact on counter-terrorism’

It’s been a challenging first year for UK REACH, with stakeholders from all sides unhappy with the compromises that have been made, but often for different reasons.

Food body warns of ‘post-Brexit perception problem’ over recurring traffic gridlock.

Watchdog says government has started its preparations too late.

Councils and port health authorities risk being overwhelmed, Institute for Government says.

Spending watchdog claims ports and businesses are not ready for 1 January, with Northern Ireland a big concern.

Grassroots charities having trouble exporting aid due to new red tape.

UK trade with the EU faces "significant disruption" when the Brexit transition period ends in January, a government spending watchdog has said.

UK’s move was not sought by either the EU or the Irish government.

Intense traffic congestion around Dover is partly down to “Brexit scenarios”, according to the head of the British Ports Association.

‘It’s entirely Brexit,’ says haulier who has been caught up in 15km queues.

Emergency traffic controls triggered 20 times this year as extra Brexit checks and freight volumes cause logjams.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps warned of "a risk of some additional friction at the border".