The UK government has shelved a project to simplify trade border processes post-Brexit after spending £110m on a contract with Deloitte and IBM for it, according to reports.
The last Conservative government promised in 2020 to create the “world’s most effective border” by 2025 as part of its plan for a new trade system after Britain left the EU.
The government hoped a “single trade window” (STW) would simplify border processes by creating a single digital platform in which importers and exporters could upload all documentation linked to goods before they are transported. However, the STW project was paused in 2024 amid concerns over costs.
Government responses to freedom of information requests submitted by the thinktank TaxWatch, seen by the Financial Times, now suggest no money has been spent on the project since January last year, with the Treasury writing that the programme had been “brought to an early closure”.
A series of delays have hindered post-Brexit border arrangements. The National Audit Office estimated that the government spent at least £4.7bn on post-Brexit border controls in 2024.
The TaxWatch director, Mike Lewis, told the FT: “For all intents and purposes the single trade window has been cancelled without HMRC or Deloitte and IBM having delivered anything after spending over £110m on it. But neither HMRC nor ministers appear to wish to admit this.”
The government said while the “delivery” of the STW had been paused for the 2025-26 financial year, “policy development” continued. There is still, however, no definitive timeframe for its implementation.
While the STW was promised by the former Conservative government, Keir Starmer’s Labour government had also promised to deliver the project. A trade strategy policy document published last year said “it remains the government’s intention to deliver a single trade window”, and that it was “committed to minimising administrative burdens and frictions experienced by businesses trading internationally”.
Starmer has promised closer alignment on trade with the EU as part of the “reset” deal announced last May, which is designed to remove the need for border checks and health certificates.
However, any deal on food standards and animal welfare, known as a sanitary and phytosanitary agreement, is currently being negotiated between the UK and the EU and may not be implemented until 2027.
A government spokesperson said: “We remain committed to delivering a single trade window, recognising its potential benefits to trade, as set out in the trade strategy published in June last year. Policy development is ongoing and focused on designing a service that delivers genuine value to businesses and strengthens the UK’s border system.”
The news comes almost a decade after the Brexit vote in the 2016 referendum. Under the agreement negotiated by Boris Johnson’s government, the UK has tariff-free trade with the EU. However, access is limited by rules and restrictions, and is still far away from the UK’s previous membership of the single market and customs union.
Goods exports have been particularly affected, with volumes falling dramatically after the end of the Brexit transition period in January 2021. In 2024, goods exports from the UK to the EU were 18% below their 2019 level in real terms.
Deloitte declined to comment. IBM was approached for comment.
