Some 500 British companies are currently in various levels of talks with the Dutch foreign investment agency NFIA about moving some operations to the Netherlands, a spokesman has confirmed to DutchNews.nl.

The list includes companies with serious intentions as well as firms which are orientating themselves about a move to the EU and are in talks with other countries as well, the NFIA said.

‘It has now become clear what can and cannot be done with regard to exporting to the EU, and buying from different suppliers,’ an NFIA spokesman said. ‘And the last three months of 2020 and first month of 2021 have been the busiest since the Brexit referendum in 2016.’

In 2019, 78 companies set up shop in the Netherlands for Brexit-related reasons. The NFIA will publish the 2020 figures later this month.

Last month, the Observer reported that British businesses which export to the continent were being encouraged by government trade advisers to set up separate companies inside the EU in order to get round the paperwork.