The FT reports that, starting in January, UK importers must complete customs declarations in real time; pre-notify the authorities of incoming animal and plant products; and be able to produce proof that the goods they are importing from the EU qualify for tariff-free access to the UK.

Business groups have warned that the new import controls, which were delayed by one year in order to keep trade flowing, will put considerable new pressure on small businesses in 2022 as they continue to adjust to trading outside the EU single market.

A survey from big business remainer body, the Institute of Directors, found one-third were “not at all prepared” for the changes. Business groups and officials concede that it’s impossible to predict exactly how the changes will affect the flow of imports from the EU, which in 2020 accounted for 50 per cent of all UK imports, (“worth £300bn”, they say).

The biggest source of concern about possible disruption, says the FT, comes from the requirement for lorries entering the UK to obtain an authorisation code from the UK’s goods vehicle movement service, prior to boarding a ferry. To obtain the code, their paperwork must be in order. From January 1 this will mean customs declarations and duty payments can no longer be deferred by up to 175 days, and animal and plant products must be pre-registered with the UK’s import of products, animals, food and feed system (IPAFFS).

How well the system works is largely contingent on how well the government has prepared for the changes and how seriously haulage firms have taken the warnings. Too many businesses simply assume everything will be fine. Those businesses who complained at a shortage of workers last year did precisely nothing to make their offer more attractive to workers and failed to change their recruitment policies following the end of freedom of movement.

All the same, though, this didn’t stop endless whinging from remainers on Twitter, even to the point of outright lying about shortages which, for the most part, never materialised. Further investigations revealed that the the shortage of lorry drivers was a structural issue, exacerbated by Covid, but one replicated all over Europe which is directly attributable to changes in single market regulation.

Elsewhere we find that the single market and freedom of movement have contributed to the centralisation of food production, based on a model of systemic exploitation of foreign labour, paying only lip service to food safety rules. For all that remainers wailed about worker’s rights, so much of the post-Brexit mewling amounts to “if we free the slaves, who will pick the cotton?”. They will oppose any Brexit induced change.

We should also note that the FT has something of a nerve being that it relentlessly deployed disinformation about the so-called Norway option, playing its part to poison the well, and kill off any softer exit options. Parliament then voted by a massive margin against retaining our membership of the EEA agreement in the hope of derailing Brexit entirely. At every turn, remainers slapped away the hand of compromise extended by Theresa May.

That, though, is ancient history so far as I’m concerned. What we can say is that the changes in January will cause some considerable disruption for business in the interim. Johnson’s trade deal doesn’t go far enough on customs cooperation, business is likely to have ignored warnings, and there are natural consequences for leaving the single market – which we have yet to fully realise. As a “leading Brexit campaigner” I’ve certainly never said all would be smooth sailing outside the single market.

In the longer term we will see the re-emergence of import-export companies, to act as middle-men. There will be a hike in costs and a loss of flexibility, but it should also reduce imports – which is not necessarily bad thing. We are likely to see a diversification of our imports and less reliance on long distance road haulage.

The re-ordering of our trade will take time, and it'll be a long time before we have a clear picture of what Brexit actually looks like. In any case, regardless of the trade picture, the UK is no longer bound by EU energy directives. If the Tories abandon their Net Zero insanity, we are better placed than any member state to bounce back from Covid.

The success of Brexit (insofar as it was ever an economic venture) is still largely contingent on what we choose to do with it. Though I do not favour a “bonfire of regulation” there is massive scope for re-regulating and improving the dysfunctional and outdated EU regulations we retained. Our waste and water policies are in desperate need of reform, and cutting the green crap will go a long way to liberating small businesses from inappropriate red tape that was originally designed to regulate big business.

The FT will moan about Brexit until the end of time, but for the most part, as business gets used to the new regime, the UK will adapt, and as customs increasingly moves toward digital declarations based on global data standards, much of the work is only to do once and is something global exporters would have had to invest in anyway.

The central dishonesty of the remainer media, though, is painting Brexit entirely as an economic endeavour to be measured only by its short term outcomes, when every single Brexit activist was fighting for something much bigger, knowing that Brexit is a long haul commitment. Ultimately we voted to break away from a supreme government for Europe. Through remainers only care about the colour of their passports and cheap Pret sandwiches, it takes more than a late delivery of Italian salami to shake British patriots.