Trade between Europe and Britain plunged by a record amount in January, the UK’s first month outside the EU single market after 47 years of bloc membership, data showed on Thursday.

The EU’s Eurostat statistics agency said that exports from Europe to the UK sank by 27.4 per cent between January 2021 and 12-months earlier, to €18 billion.

British exports to the continent meanwhile shrank by 59.5 per cent, to just €6.4 billion.

The fall was steeper than that showed in recent UK data, due to differences in methodology.

The fall was steeper than that showed in recent UK data, due to differences in methodology

The British government last week said the drops were inevitable and largely due to the COVID pandemic and one-off consequences of leaving the single market on January 1.

Britain’s departure from the EU was finalised in 2021, after the government clinched a long-awaited Brexit trade deal over Christmas.

Yet Britain has experienced a rocky start to life outside the bloc, with some UK exporters complaining of huge hurdles to previously seamless continental trade.