A children’s bike manufacturer has fallen into administration, with staff being made redundant. Frog Bikes, headquartered in Ascot, Berkshire, with a factory in Pontypool, Wales, has begun laying off staff after filing for administration.

The business was launched by parents Jerry and Shelley Lawson in 2013. According to their website, the company aimed to “create high-quality, lightweight bikes specifically designed for children”. It worked with Olympic bike engineer Dimitris Katsanis to create bikes perfectly suited to young riders.

However, official records on The Gazette show that Frog Bikes appointed Anthony John Wright and Alastair Rex Massey, of FRP Advisory Trading Limited, as administrators on Thursday, February 19.

The brand previously confirmed the news, citing “tighter financial markets and reduced access to funding (making) it increasingly difficult for growing manufacturing businesses to secure the requisite working capital”.

It also blamed Brexit and difficulties adjusting to post-pandemic “supply chain disruption”, as reported by road.cc.

In 2021, the owners of Frog Bikes claimed that leaving the EU cost them £250,000 in two months. Then, just two years later, their accounts showed losses of £500,000.

Staff at Frog Bikes are now being made redundant, with a few making announcements on LinkedIn describing it as “a difficult day”.

Many small business owners are fearful of the upcoming Autumn Budget, worried that new announcements could hit their growth prospects and finances hard. Concerns focus on potential increases in national insurance (49%), VAT (48%), and income tax (50%), which many believe would stall business expansion. Flexible working policies also worry traditional sectors, while property businesses fear any rises in Capital Gains or Inheritance Tax could ripple through the market.

Joanna Morris, Head of Insight at Novuna Business Finance told the Express: “Whilst almost daily there seems to be speculation over what will be announced in the Autumn Budget, in truth no one actually knows at this moment in time. Small businesses want support to power their growth plans forward but fiscal changes that add to the cost burden of UK small businesses, increase red tape or dampen consumer spending confidence could see trigger a fall in small business growth outlook.”

The UK’s annual Autumn Budget is set to take place on November 26. While there’s much speculation about possible changes to ISA limits, pensions, inheritance tax, and capital gains tax, nothing is confirmed yet.

Meanwhile, despite government efforts promoting trade deals with countries outside the EU and the US, new exclusive research from Novuna Business Finance reveals UK small businesses are turning inward focusing more on the domestic market than international expansion.

In a nationally representative survey of 1,000 small business owners across the UK, the percentage of businesses prioritising the UK market for future growth has surged to 84%, up from 64% in 2017, marking the highest level recorded since the survey began tracking attitudes eight years ago.

Sectors showing the greatest reliance on domestic growth including agriculture (97%), construction (96%) and hospitality (87%).

Interest in markets like the US and the EU has seen a notable decline. The desire to do business in the US, which had remained steady at around 16% for several years, has now dropped to 12%, the lowest point in eight years and well below the pre-pandemic high of 22% in early 2020.

The European Union, once a crucial trading partner for many small UK businesses, has seen its appeal wane dramatically. Back in 2017, 24% of small businesses identified the EU as a growth opportunity. That figure has now fallen to 17%. Countries in Europe outside of the EU have also seen interest being halved, down from 12% to just 6%.

Jo Morris added: “These new findings are possibly a consequence of the frustrations many small businesses have felt, following major political shifts over the last eight years. Our research in June 2017 revealed dismay over Brexit, with nearly a third of small business owners (31%) saying they wanted a new government that would reverse the Brexit decision.

“Forward wind to the start of 2025 and our Business Barometer survey revealed that more than seven in 10 small businesses (77%) said they were fearful that policies from the new US administration could have an adverse ripple effect on the outlook for small businesses here in the UK.

“Our new findings see this playing out, with a growing number of small businesses looking to the local UK market to deliver their aspirations for growth and expansion. In recent months, the UK government has heralded a string of so-called ‘historic’ trade deals with India, the United States, and the European Union.

“Our data questions whether this will deliver an uplift in confidence for UK small businesses, at a time when their growth forecasts are falling each quarter. Small businesses dislike uncertainty, and with the Autumn Budget approaching, many enterprises will be hoping for a Budget that is good for business.”

Brexit has enabled the United Kingdom to avoid being sucked into the European Union’s looming “shadow debt nightmare” after Brussels confirmed that repayments on its flagship £690 million (€800 billion) borrowing programme must now be built into the EU’s budget, one financial expert has claimed. Bob Lyddon, a long-standing analyst of EU finances, said the burden of servicing the bloc’s debts will now fall directly on member states, while Britain, having left the EU, is shielded from the liabilities.

The founder of Lyddon Consulting Services said: “The structure of the scheme has pushed the EU’s shadow debts above the horizon and landed their costs squarely in the in-trays of finance ministers. If there was one good reason for Brexit, this is it. The UK is not on the hook for other people’s debts.”

The scheme in question, Next Generation EU, was created in 2020 to finance pandemic recovery. Brussels borrowed more than €700 billion on capital markets, with authority to raise as much as €800 billion. The funds were distributed to member states in a mix of grants and loans.

According to Mr Lyddon’s analysis for the IREF Europe think tank, at least €300 billion of that money will never return to the EU budget. The grants are permanently spent, while repayment of the loans is uncertain.

Repayments on the EU’s bonds are now due to be built into the bloc’s next budget cycle. The European Commission has proposed new sources of “own resources” to cover the gap, including a carbon border tax, a share of emissions trading revenues and other potential levies.

Mr Lyddon continued: “EU taxpayers will be tapped up one way or another. Either governments pay more from national budgets, or Brussels extracts it through new EU-level taxes.”

The joint-and-several nature of the debt means that all member states are liable for repayment, regardless of the amounts they received.

That leaves stronger economies such as Germany and the Netherlands, and heavily indebted France, facing higher exposure if weaker states fail to meet obligations.

The issue is expected to cause political strain in Paris in particular. President Emmanuel Macron’s government is already under pressure over rising deficits, and any EU-driven tax measures that divert revenue from French households and firms risk further controversy.

Next Generation EU was presented as a historic show of solidarity during the pandemic, but its long-term financing implications were not widely debated at the time.

Mr Lyddon said the scheme has now turned into a structural burden on the EU’s budget, reducing the fiscal room for manoeuvre in Brussels and national capitals alike.

He said: “Rather than governments paying more directly, the EU wants to collect new taxes itself. But in the end, it still comes from the pockets of European citizens.”

Britain’s departure from the EU in 2020 means it is insulated from these costs. During the 2016 referendum campaign, Leave campaigners repeatedly argued that EU membership risked entangling the UK in shared liabilities arising from bailouts and common borrowing. Remain campaigners dismissed those warnings as exaggerated.

The revelation that member states must now accommodate debt repayments from the Next Generation EU scheme will be seen by Brexit supporters as vindication of those concerns.

The timing is sensitive, as the EU prepares its next seven-year budget cycle amid sluggish growth, high public debt and rising demands for defence and energy spending. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is under pressure, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban today announcing he had submitted a motion of no confidence in her leadership.

Any perception that Brussels is diverting funds to service past borrowing rather than investing in new priorities could deepen political tensions across the bloc.

For the UK, the development underlines one of the clearest fiscal consequences of Brexit: exclusion from the EU’s collective debt obligations.

UK businesses will be potentially attractive to European businesses after Brexit and Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, an expert has suggested. The current trade environment places British firms in a good position, they argued, as Britain has negotiated trade deals with both the US and EU, and Mr Trump announced 15% tariffs on most of the bloc’s exports. In addition, Switzerland, which is not an EU member, faces a 39% tariff – the highest in Europe and fourth highest globally. This has “left many Swiss firms grappling with the threat of severe economic repercussions”, Aman Parmar, Head of Marketing at BizSpace, a small to medium business (SME) flexible workspace firm.

The EU and the US announced on July 29 that a trade deal would see a 15% ceiling on all EU exports currently subject to reciprocal tariffs. This also applies to cars and car parts, as well as any potential future tariffs on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. However, European wines and spirits did not make it on the list of items exempt from the 15% levy. A 10% tariff will remain in force for countries with which the US has a trade surplus, which includes most states.

The House of Commons outlined the UK’s tariffs on July 30 as follows. In March, President Trump imposed a 25% tariff on all aluminium, steel and derivative goods imports.

From April 3, there was a 25% tariff on all passenger vehicles and light trucks. Tariffs of 25% on automobile parts were due to be implemented from May 3.

From April 5, a 10% baseline tariff on imports from the UK, affecting most goods.

Mr Parmar added: “This dramatic difference in tariff conditions could position the UK as a key indirect beneficiary of these tariffs, enabling it to reclaim some of the trade and investment lost post-Brexit.”

The expert also said: “The aftermath of the 2016 Brexit referendum saw many British businesses shift operations to mainland Europe, leading to initial uncertainties and a decline in exports.

“However, the prospect of US President Trump’s newly imposed tariffs is prompting companies to reassess their strategies.

“Similar to the situation faced by smaller Swiss firms, particularly in the watch and machinery sectors, UK SMEs might find themselves in a position to attract displaced EU businesses.

“In Switzerland, for instance, a fifth of the watches and jewellery produced are exported to the US; analysts suggest that the impact of US tariffs will disproportionately affect the lower-end segments of these markets.”

Swiss government held crisis talks on Monday in an attempt to finalise a proposal that might dissuade US President Donald Trump from imposing 39% tariffs on the country, Bloomberg reported.

Mr Parmar said: “With Switzerland now facing a staggering 39% tariff – the highest in Europe and globally the fourth highest behind only Syria, Laos, and Myanmar – it underscores the vulnerability of smaller exporters, which the UK could leverage to attract businesses seeking more stable conditions.”