Brexit and Switzerland
The UK and Switzerland currently inhabit somewhat parallel universes in the trade and investment context, both being neighbours of the EU but not members of the EU.
Brexit in many ways seems to have brought the UK and Switzerland closer to each other and it is worthwhile examining recent trade and investment statistics between them.
On 14th May 2026, the UK’s Department for Business and Trade ( DBT) issued one of a regular series of factsheets relating to trade and investment between the two countries.
The factsheet showed that total trade in goods and services ( exports plus imports) between the UK and Switzerland was £52.8 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q4 ( Quarter 4) 2025, an increase of 13.8% or £6.4 billion in current prices from the four quarters to the end of Q4 2024.Of this £52.8 billion:
- Total UK exports to Switzerland amounted to £26.6 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q4 2025 (an increase of 6.1% or £1.5 billion in current prices, compared to the four quarters to the end of Q4 2024); and
- Total UK imports from Switzerland amounted to £26.2 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q4 2025 ( an increase of 22.7% or £4.9 billion in current prices, compared to the four quarters to the end of Q4 2024).
According to the DBT factsheet, Switzerland was the UK’s 10th largest trading partner in the four quarters to the end of Q4 2025 accounting for 2.8% of total UK trade.
The factsheet revealed that , at the end of 2024, the stock of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from the UK in Switzerland was £42.6 billion, 8.1% or £3.8 billion lower than at the end of 2023 and in addition that ,at the end of 2024, Switzerland accounted for 2.3% of the total UK outward FDI stock.
The factsheet also revealed that , at the end of 2024, the stock of FDI from Switzerland in the UK was £44 billion, 25.2% or £14.8 billion lower than at the end of 2023 and in addition that, at the end of 2024, Switzerland accounted for 2.1% of the total UK inward FDI stock.
The upward trend in trade and the downward trend in investment between the two countries reflected in the above figures should be noted and will no doubt be monitored in the future.
Interesting times!
Brexit and “La Fanciulla Del West” ( “ The Girl of the Golden West”)
On 6th June 2026, the Holland Park Opera performed “ La Fanciulla Del West” by Giacomo Puccini – in the original Italian ( with English surtitles above the stage on mounted screens).
It was an electric performance of high passion and drama with the central actions set in the lawless goldrush years of mid- 19th century California – an evening event in the giant tented space where the Holland Park opera season is staged each year, made all the more memorable on this occasion by the late substitution of a member of the audience ( obviously trained in opera) for one of the principal performers who had fallen ill shortly before the performance was due to start. The weather outside the tent was typically British and unpredictable but the sometimes howling winds and London rain actively harmonised with the actions on stage inside in a perfectly symbiotic manner. Judging by the enthusiastic applause and” bravos” at the end , the audience loved it and nobody appeared to mind the unscheduled “ dei ex machina”!
The audience was clearly very international as was the operatic cast, as was the composer and as were the director and other members of the creative team. An Italian opera set in the United States of America and performed in the heart of London illustrated yet again the UK’s gigantic role in European and World culture.
Brexit has not severed the cultural links between the UK and the wider world ( including Europe) and indeed those links, on the basis of this operatic performance, are flourishing.
Brexit and Accounts Reforms
On 9th June 2026,the UK Government issued a Written Statement that accounts reforms introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) would be brought into force in April 2028.
Companies House followed up with a news story blog on the same day confirming the Written Statement.
According to the Written Statement, the reforms include:-
- “requiring small companies and micro entities to file profit and loss accounts with Companies House as other companies do”;
- “removing the option for companies to file abridged accounts”;
- “a strengthened eligibility statement for all companies claiming an audit exemption “;
- “the ability for the registrar to require all companies to file accounts via software ( using inline extensible Business Reporting Language (ixBRL) format)”; and
- “ requiring component parts of the filed accounts and reports all to be filed together”.
The Written Statement also noted the Government’s intention to enact secondary legislation, taking effect from April 2028, “to reduce the number of times a company can shorten its Accounting Reference Period and introduce annotations to the register where a company has not complied with a notice regarding compliance of its accounts with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006”.
Changing times in the post- Brexit era!
Brexit and David Hockney, OM
David Hockney, who was one of the foremost artists of his age , died on 11th June 2026 at the age of 88.
His was a life well – lived and overflowing with creative spirit and, whilst he always remained loyal to his Yorkshire roots, his life in California and much later his time in Normandy and his strikingly bright – coloured iconic paintings from both those periods ( as well as his prolific artistic output throughout his life) marked him out as an artist of world significance. His experimentation with I-Pads and other modern tools of transcription fully confirmed him as an artist in tune with his changing times and at the forefront of innovation, even in his more senior years.
David Hockney was proudly a person of the gay community and was unstinting in his support for that community, through his art and in his life choices, and will be remembered for that as well as for his singular art.
Brexit did not diminish his world appeal!
Brexit and the Long Tail of the Brexit Referendum
On 25th June 2026, The Times published an article ( by columnist, Hugo Rifkind) entitled “Biggest mistake of Brexit wasn’t actually Brexit”, with the strapline : “ The vehicle of a referendum has bound successive governments to a mandate they don’t believe in but have to deliver”.
According to the article , “When Andy Burnham becomes our seventh PM since the Brexit vote, he will be the fifth one of them who didn’t vote for it.”.
In a speech on 23rd June 2026, the 10th anniversary of the Brexit Referendum, to a conference organised by the think tank, UK in a Changing Europe, Nick Thomas-Symonds MP , the UK Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations, talked of the importance of looking forward and not looking back where the UK’s relationship with the EU was concerned, ending with the observation that “.. preparing for the future is the attitude that I have no doubt will be taken into the 2026 UK EU Summit, whenever that might be.”.
The Brexit Referendum does appear to have had a long tail but let us see what happens next !
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