Brexit is done and we must move on - that is what the Leavers would want you to think and something they parrot to anyone who dares say otherwise, writes Business Editor Ian McConnell.

However, the reality is very different and there is something the Leavers might want to chew over for a while.

So Brexit is done and we must move on?

That is for sure what the Brexiters would want you to think. And it is something which they, in tiresome and at times hostile fashion, parrot to anyone who dares to say otherwise.

But their assertion is patently not the case.

Of course, most people do not need to be told this. They see the dismal effects in their everyday lives.

And Brexit has taken a huge toll on the UK economy and, by extension, living standards.

That said, the strength of the view on whether Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Government is doing enough to tackle the damaging effects of Brexit, in a major exclusive poll of Scottish business leaders published by The Herald on Thursday, was striking.

The poll, conducted in conjunction with the Institute of Directors in Scotland, revealed that only 3% of business leaders north of the Border believe “there have been no detrimental effects” from Brexit.

The Leavers might want to chew over that for a while. That said, it is perhaps astonishing that this proportion is as high as 3%.

Asked if they “believe the UK Government is doing enough to address the detrimental effects of Brexit arising from the loss of frictionless trade and ending of free movement between the UK and European Economic Area”, 84% of the 123 respondents replied “no”. That is more than five in six respondents.

Sir Keir might want to reflect on that.

Only 6% replied “yes”, with 7% saying they “don’t know”.

This illustrates a major challenge for Labour, which continues to stick with the red lines it painted ahead of the July 2024 General Election of not rejoining the European Union, single market or even the customs union.

Asked in a separate, free-form question about the one thing the Scottish Government or UK Government could do to boost Scottish business, it was certainly notable that the European issue featured prominently.

Several business leaders urged the UK Government to rejoin the European Union.

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One IoD Scotland member said: “Rejoin EU, or at least re-establish free trade and free movement of people.”

Two members came up with the identically worded response of “rejoin the EU”.

Other responses from those who chose to flag the European issue in the context of the “one thing” government could do included “keep improving the relationship with the EU, ideally rejoining the single market”; “independence for Scotland leading to rejoining Europe”; “rejoin the European single market”; and “trade with EU”.

And another IoD Scotland member declared: “Rejoin Europe.”

Given the array of answers to this question from the 123 respondents, the number of business leaders choosing the European issue as the one thing the Scottish Government or the UK Government could do to help did stand out.

And, while Labour has been adopting much friendlier tones towards the EU, in stark contrast to the hostility of previous Conservative administrations in the run-up to and following Brexit, the fact 84% of respondents believe it is not doing enough to address the detrimental effects of Brexit is most telling.

Business leaders, unlike the ideologically entrenched and blinkered Brexit brigade, can see only too well on a daily basis the realities of the UK’s hard exit from the EU. They might wish these grim realities did not exist but they do and they have to be addressed.

Sir Keir still seems way too nervous about upsetting those “red wall” voters who swept Boris Johnson to victory in the December 2019 General Election and ushered in the UK’s hard Brexit.

That is a great pity, given the scale of the damage being done to the UK economy, to businesses and to living standards.

And it is not as if Labour is unaware of the scale of this damage.         

Chancellor Rachel Reeves highlighted the enormous effect of Brexit in her Mais lecture at Bayes Business School in London last month in simple numerical terms, flagging estimates of the cost being ““as much as 8%” of gross domestic product.

She said: “Brexit created profound uncertainty, raised new barriers to trade, and leaves Britain facing an additional danger today:  the risk that we find ourselves stranded between powerful trading blocs, as globalisation retreats.”

Ms Reeves declared: “This Government is already making significant progress on our relationship with the European Union on agrifood, electricity, emissions trading, and Erasmus. 

“But Brexit did deep damage. Recent independent studies indicate its GDP impacts could be as much as 8%. 

“It has meant higher costs for businesses, and therefore…higher costs in our shops. It’s meant shrinking markets for UK exporters, and our strategic industries exposed, as protectionist barriers rise.”

The trouble for Labour is - while it has been making progress in some high-profile areas such as thankfully deciding to rejoin the EU’s Erasmus+ scheme which enables young people to study and train abroad - its red lines prevent it from tackling the huge economic damage of Brexit  in any meaningful way.

And, given the scale of these detrimental effects, we should probably not be surprised that more than five in six Scottish business leaders think Labour is not doing enough on this front.

© Herald Scotland