Samantha Cameron says Brexit has made business 'difficult'

Samantha Cameron (right) hosts a coffee morning to celebrate the work of charity KIDS and the services that they deliver to disabled children, young people and their families, at Hackney Adventure Playground in London. - Credit: PA

Samantha Cameron has said her fashion label has faced “challenging and difficult” times since Britain left the EU on January 1.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Cameron said her company had experienced “teething issues” in trading with the EU and urged No 10 to speak with small businesses.

“[We] definitely deal with having this problem at work,” she said.

Asked if her company had encountered supply chain issues, she replied: “There’s been a bit of that – I think a mixture of Covid and Brexit, actually, although there would be no issues trading with the US or outside the EU.

“Until they sort out some of [what] I hope [is] teething issues, definitely trading with the EU, if you’re bringing goods into the country from outside the UK, and then trying to sell them back into Europe, that currently is challenging and difficult.”

She then urged her husband’s successor in Downing Street, Boris Johnson, to “talk to all the businesses out there who are in a similar position to me, of which there are lots”.

She added: “It is the smaller businesses [affected] because we can’t afford to have warehouses in Europe and that sort of thing. And I’m sure there are ways of sorting it out.

“It does need to be looked at because otherwise we can’t grow our business [and] if we can’t grow our business, it is frustrating.

“Unless some of the expense and cost of doing that is looked at, it will be challenging.”

Cameron worked as the director of fashion brand Smythson of Bond Street before her husband entered Downing Street in 2010.

In 2017, after he had left office, she founded her own company, Cefinn, focusing on contemporary womenswear.