JUST a few short years ago, Elizabeth Carnahan’s business was doing well. She had a growing customer base, a turnover of more than £1 million and her business was growing.
She sold upwards of 350 products to a market of more than 500 million people in what she admits is a niche business.
Her chemical cosmetics firm Gracefruit, founded in 2005 and based in Falkirk, was forced to sack half its staff last year, following dwindling sales, which she pins directly on Brexit.
For Carnahan, this shift had a profound impact on her life. Not just financially, but on the way she looked at the world.
“The whole Brexit debacle kind of radicalised me,” she told the Sunday National. “I was perfectly comfortable in a capitalist system. I started a business, we created jobs.
“We always tried to be a progressive business. We did the living wage long before that was a thing. We worked a shortened work week and we did it all within the limitations of capitalism and we paid a lot of tax, selling to the EU. It felt like we were business ambassadors. We sold great products and got on so well with our customers.
“But that was all taken away by Brexit when the trade barriers went up. Everything I expected happened but fortunately, I planned for it.”
Following the 2016 vote, Carnahan paid off her mortgage and started saving money in any way she could.
For a business such as Carnahan’s that relied on a big customer base, namely the EU, Brexit meant it was now much harder to effectively trade with three-quarters of her clients.
Following the downturn, only three members of staff remain.
“The business has declined a lot,” she said. “57% in the first year after leaving the single market and customs union. That one didn’t hurt me but it hurt my company and my employees and we had to lay people off because we had no money to pay them.
“The UK market is different now too. The firms we used to work with have gone under, so the market is even smaller.
“A lot of the little businesses I sold to in England have gone as well.”
It was then, Carnahan said, she began to “check out” of the economy.
She said: “After watching all this happen, I began to think what is the point? Why on earth am I worrying, getting grey hair, unable to sleep? Why am I worrying about all this decline when I can just not participate anymore?
“So I made an active decision not to participate in the economy going forward.”
With her house paid off and her savings nearby, Carnahan now draws the maximum tax-free allowance she can from her business to give herself a small salary each year.
“I don’t pay many taxes now,” she said. “Since Brexit, my corporation tax bill has dropped by 50% year on year. And when it’s due this next year I assume our corporation contribution will be negligent.
“We don’t work many hours anymore. The most we do is 10 in a week. I have four people and we all take the maximum tax-free allowance. And we don’t even contribute VAT because we pay more VAT than we collect now.
“From my perspective, as someone who used to participate in the economy and very happily contribute jobs, tax and all of that I’ve completely quit.
“I’ve just stepped out because I don’t feel that I should be contributing to a society, into an economy that doesn’t care about me, what happens to me, my business, my employees and the tax revenue I used to provide. They don’t care.
“And then I’m watching people in the Government not paying their taxes. And then I’m watching people in the Government continuously break the law. And I just think I don’t want to be a part of that. I just, I’m out. Thanks.”
Carnahan said she knows how fortunate she is to be able to make this decision and have savings that allow her to do this, and she said she will do it for as long as she can.
How long that is, she isn’t sure. Carnahan is only 55 but said she doesn’t have enough savings to see her through her life.
“It’s not like a strike,” she said. “It’s just people my age quietly dropping out because we are not appreciated and in my case, they’ve actively harmed me and I just don’t want to play that game anymore.
“We used to have a holiday home on the Isle of Bute. We paid council tax there as well and we used to go over 4-5 times a month but we sold it before Brexit. There are a lot of things we used to spend money on and we just don’t anymore.
“I just don’t feel appreciated, looked after or cared for on any level because the country and the Government decided to ruin the economy, my business and my livelihood.”
