"We're stuffed" - Brixham fish merchant Ian Perkes says he's unable to export his fish to France now the new post-Brexit rules and regulation have come into force.

It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain, as failure to award enough licences to the French mean our government is now loathed by fishermen on both sides of the channel.

Time-sensitive seafood exports have been hit hard as the fishing industry struggles to deal with long-winded paperwork and new rules

Brixham-based fish merchant Ian Perkes told Financial Times that he “never looked at implications of the paperwork” that a vote to leave would bring.

Many of the leave voters George Llewelyn met in 2021 were dissatisfied Eurosceptics who are now ardent rejoiners. How did it happen?

Almost four years after Johnson promised the fishing merchant the French would be desperate to buy his fish, the business has seen sales plummet 30% and export costs rise by as much as £3,000 a week.

“If there wasn’t any Brexit, there wouldn’t be any issues,” he said. “We were getting on fine before that.”