Survey reveals Britain is bottom of EU league

A new survey commissioned by the European Union has revealed that Britain is considered the most difficult country to do business with.

Around 4,000 firms throughout the fifteen member states of the EU were quizzed on a variety of issues relating to the application of business rules when interacting with other countries – with the findings revealing that doing business with Britain is the most problematic of all.

Respondents went on to cite a wide variety of regulatory hindrances – including the UK’s apparent reluctance to implement EU single market rules – as behind the placing of Britain at the bottom of the league.

While the UK, Italy and France were considered the most important markets to do business with, all three countries came under criticism for their restrictive “regulatory environment” in comparison to Finland, which was widely described as the easiest member state to trade with. Attempts by the UK and Italy to reduce the complexity of their national rules were also seen as largely ineffectual.

When asked to describe how they perceived their own country’s handling of trade laws, only 37 per cent of British businesses said that they believed the UK Government demonstrated “good judgement”. In contrast, around two-thirds of Irish respondents expressed confidence in their government’s ability to implement common-sense legislation.

It has estimated that more efficient use of trade laws between member states could save £30 billion – the amount currently lost through ‘complicated’ EU national trade rules. (CL)