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Government touts Frog Bikes as post-Brexit "success" story, just months on from company blaming Brexit "friction" for £500,000 losses

In February, Frog Bikes said "the day to day issues in fulfilling orders have dominated most of our trade relationships with the EU", but the bike brand has now spoken of being able to "envision expanded exports to countries like Singapore and Canada"...

Frog Bikes, the bicycle brand for pint-sized people, has been featured in a press release from the Department for Business & Trade (DBT) that aims to highlight the opportunities open to British manufacturers post-Brexit. It’s not the most attention-grabbing news from the department over the festive period – today’s news that wine can be sold in 568ml ‘pint’ measures clearly claims that prize, but it does give a glimpse into how UK bike businesses are having to adapt to today’s trading environment.

The children’s bike company, which has its head office in Ascot, Berkshire and manufacturing plant in Pontypool, south Wales, has spoken in previously published reports accompanying its accounts filed at Companies House of the impact the UK’s decision to leave the European Union had on its business, and its co-founder said in 2020 that in the first two months after the Withdrawal Agreement came into effect early that year, Frog Bikes incurred Brexit-related costs of £250,000.

> Brexit cost bicycle business £250,000 in two months

And earlier this year, reported pre-tax losses of £530,476 for the year to February 2022, the company blamed continued “friction” post-Brexit for it being in the red.

> Ongoing Brexit “friction” blamed as Frog Bikes reports £500,000 losses

But in the DBT press release published on Christmas Eve under the heading, Children around the world enjoy British-made gifts this Christmas, Frog Bikes was featured as one of three businesses capitalising on an export market for toys and bikes that the government department says is worth £640 million a year.

According to the press release, “Australia, New Zealand and Japan are just some of the countries snapping up British-made products, with around £36 million of toys exported to these countries in 2022. Thanks to our FTAs it’s even easier for people in those countries to buy world-class British products.”

It went on to highlight the future benefits of the UK’s recent agreement to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a major trade bloc in the Indo-Pacific. 

“Joining CPTPP means that over 99 per cent of current UK goods exports, including toys and bikes, to CPTPP members will be eligible for tariff-free trade.”

Minister for international trade, Greg Hands, said: “The UK is world-renowned for its high-quality products and manufacturing prowess, so it’s no surprise the UK is one of Santa’s biggest workshops, with British-made presents flying off the shelves to fill stockings around the world.  

“I’m delighted our post-Brexit trade agreements are making it easier for British companies to help Santa check off Christmas lists in Australia and New Zealand this year.”

That’s great news for kids on the other side of the world who may have received gifts this year from British firms including Dr Zigs, which makes “sustainable bubbles” and teddy bear manufacturer Merrythought, which like Frog Bikes were featured in the press release, although absent from the government release was any mention of the world’s biggest trading bloc located rather closer to home.

“Our journey at Frog Bikes has been one of constant evolution and expansion. We envision expanded exports to countries like Singapore and Canada, anticipating the benefits of CPTPP,” said Jerry Lawson, described in the DBT press release as the company’s “Chief Frog and Export Champion.”

He continued: “The support from DBT and the Welsh Government has been invaluable, solidifying our presence in Norway and facilitating our US launch in 2016. 

“As we continue to leverage these opportunities and collaborations, Frog Bikes remains committed to fostering fair trade agreements, protecting local manufacturing, and ensuring sustainable practices within the cycling industry,” he added.

The DBT says that exports make up 45 per cent of sales at Frog Bikes, and that “with over 50 countries already on their exporting list, they plan to expand sales to CPTPP countries ahead of the deal coming into force.”

We have approached Frog Bikes for a comment.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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51 comments

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CWNZ | 3 weeks ago
1 like

Frog bikes can't be purchased in New Zealand. The one shop that was directly importing them hasn't done so since 2022.

I'm not sure how popular Frog is in Australia. BYK seems to be the favoured kids brand for cycling geek parents.

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Rage Against Th... | 3 weeks ago
16 likes

One of the few remaining arguments of the last Brexiters on planet earth is that it's too soon to review the benefits of Brexit. It isn't. We have had nearly eight years of intention / formulation of Brexit strategy and nearly four years of Brexecution / implementation. Formative evaluation is therefore both possible and necessary. Let's not forget that we were told that there would be no downsides to Brexit and we would have instant wins from our independence, in terms of 'taking back control' of our money, borders and laws.  

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eburtthebike | 4 weeks ago
12 likes

The clear success that is Brexit just keeps giving.  This story, along with the architect of Brexit (call me Lord Dave) a man with no credibility being brought back into government to give it some credibility, the abolishing of inheritance tax and being able to buy wine in pints has persuaded me: I'm voting tory all the way!

If the NHS wasn't so underfunded, I'd be sectioned.

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Nick T | 4 weeks ago
10 likes

Great, so Frog buy their frames, wheels and components from factories in China, ship it all over to Wales where it's bolted together, then boxes them up to be shipped back for sale in the Pacific market. Utterly wasteful, no way that'll go on much longer 

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ubercurmudgeon | 4 weeks ago
12 likes

I don't recall voting to join the CPTPP. I guess we know what "taking back control" means now.

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open_roads replied to ubercurmudgeon | 3 weeks ago
5 likes

The public doesn't usually have any voting rights on whether to join / ratify free trade agreements -  including the one signed for CPTPP or ones previously signed between the EU and other countries whilst the UK was an EU member state.

This of courses misses the more relevant point.

Much of the motivation of "leavers" was that the country was promised and then denied the chance to vote on join the enlarged EU *political union* - having previously only voted in the 70s to join a trading arrangement.

Blair and Brown repeatedly pledged a referendum to give the public a vote before signing the Lisbon Treaty but in the end it was signed by David Milliband unilaterally - despite the clear lack of support by the public.

https://amp.theguardian.com/uk/2007/oct/19/eu.politics1

Had Blair / Brown actually followed the democratic process it's likely we'd still be in the EU because it would have removed one of the biggest contributors to the sense of injustice that many leavers clearly had.

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Brauchsel replied to open_roads | 3 weeks ago
6 likes

There were (I think) nine general elections between the 1975 and 2016 referendums. At every one, parties were able to stand with leaving the EEC/EC/EU as a manifesto commitment. At none of them did such a party even get close to winning a majority. 

That is our democratic process, and it was followed. Looked at in the round, "Europe" was simply not a major issue for voters when compared to everything else. It was only by Cameron making it salient for party-political reasons that it's become a genuine division for people (on either side) who aren't politicians or single-issue obsessives. 

My 7-y-o is going through a real phase of demanding that I state which drawing, which bit of the drawing, which colour etc I like best. I generally don't have a strong preference one way or the other, and would rather use my decision-making energies on topics more relevant to our overall well-being. I pick one because I have to, and frequently point out that it's a stupid way of governing. 

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Doctor Darabuka replied to ubercurmudgeon | 3 weeks ago
4 likes

That's consistent.  The Tories didn't offer a public vote in 1973 when the UK joined the European Community. 

It wasn't until two years after we had joined that the Labour Government arranged a remain/leave referendum. 

There has never been a public vote to join the EC/EEC/EU.

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David9694 replied to Doctor Darabuka | 3 weeks ago
6 likes

The 2016 ballot was advisory, "won" by a tiny margin on the back of a campaign funded by iffy money, turned into THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE by a sympathetic press and was substantially based on proven lies. 

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Brauchsel replied to David9694 | 3 weeks ago
5 likes

The referendum should never have been held, but the margin wasn't that tiny. Around 1.4m votes out of 33m cast: think of it as finishing seven miles behind the winner in a 100-mile race. 

And there's no way politically that the result could have been ignored: if Remain had won and the government said "fuck it, we're leaving anyway" you and I would have been rightly apoplectic.

I don't like it, and I hope we rejoin not much further into my lifetime. But it was the will of the people, and the vote hasn't been found to be unfree or unfair. There's something both supercilious and Trumpish about trying to delegitimise a process we don't like the result of. 

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Rendel Harris replied to Brauchsel | 3 weeks ago
6 likes

Brauchsel wrote:

There's something both supercilious and Trumpish about trying to delegitimise a process we don't like the result of. 

Don't forget what someone said about it: "If there's a big majority, like 60-40, that's the end of it. But if it's something like 52-48 for remain, it won't be over, not by a long chalk." Who was that? Why, Nigel Farage. He wouldn't have given up fighting if he'd lost so I don't see why the other side should either.

The margin was tiny though, it was actually 1.26M or 3.8% of the total votes cast, as Robert Harris (no relation) memorably said, "a majority deemed insufficient to change the constitution of the average golf club."

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oceandweller replied to Brauchsel | 3 weeks ago
7 likes

Brauchsel wrote:

The referendum should never have been held, but the margin wasn't that tiny. Around 1.4m votes out of 33m cast: think of it as finishing seven miles behind the winner in a 100-mile race.

The problem was Cameron, a Prime Minister Of Very Little Brain even by the standards of recent Prime Ministers, when legislating for the referendum set the outcome criterion to be a simple majority. This is unusual to say the least. Referenda are generally set up to require a *clear* majority for change - e.g. 60/40 (the actual vote was about 52/48) - coz people wanting change are almost all going to vote while those supporting the status quo often don't vote. That's human nature I'm afraid.

My own guess is we'll be back in the EU soon, but required to adopt the Euro (a good thing IMO, tho most economists seem to be against it, for as far as I can see rather suspect reasons) & without Thatcher's rebate (I think we can all agree, definitely a bad outcome; but maybe James Dyson & J. Reese-Smug & Tim Whotsit from Wetherspoons can be prevailed upon to chip in a couple of billion a year to make up for all their lies?).

I just hope & pray we don't get an FTA with the US in the meantime. Free trade with the US would utterly destroy the Britain we know today.

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Rich_cb replied to oceandweller | 3 weeks ago
3 likes

A super majority destroys the idea that each vote is equal.

If we had a referendum to rejoin the EU would you support a super majority being used?

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ROOTminus1 replied to oceandweller | 3 weeks ago
1 like

I blame Clegg for jumping in the wrong bed. A Lab-Dem coalition would have killed DC as the leader of the Tories, so he wouldn't have shat the bed over his belligerent back-benchers and pushed the EU agenda and this whole debacle would have been avoided.
It might have meant the subsequent Conservative party would either cut out the more radical members of their party, or have swung further right, but either way I think there'd be fewer incompetents on those benches (for better or worse).

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OldRidgeback replied to Brauchsel | 3 weeks ago
4 likes

Brauchsel wrote:

The referendum should never have been held, but the margin wasn't that tiny. Around 1.4m votes out of 33m cast: think of it as finishing seven miles behind the winner in a 100-mile race. 

And there's no way politically that the result could have been ignored: if Remain had won and the government said "fuck it, we're leaving anyway" you and I would have been rightly apoplectic.

I don't like it, and I hope we rejoin not much further into my lifetime. But it was the will of the people, and the vote hasn't been found to be unfree or unfair. There's something both supercilious and Trumpish about trying to delegitimise a process we don't like the result of. 

The vote has been found to have been manipulated. Exactly how much Russian money went to the leave campaigns has not been determined but we know it was a lot. The intelligence report into Russian manipulation of the EU referendum (and also the Scottish independence one in 2014) has been redacted. Had there been nothing in it, as arch liar Johnson claimed, it would've been made public. We do know that Russian troll farms were very active spreading misinformation on social media in the run up to the vote. Many of the lies that the troll farms came out with spread into the public domain and I even found my Brexit voting colleagues repeating them.

So no, the vote was not free and fair.

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Rich_cb replied to OldRidgeback | 3 weeks ago
4 likes

Despite all the 'Russian money' Remain still outspent Leave significantly.

19.3m Vs 13.3m

Imagine how much more convincing the victory would have been if the funding had been fair...

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Rich_cb replied to Brauchsel | 3 weeks ago
4 likes

It's quite amusing comparing the words and phrases used by Remain supporters in the years post referendum and the words and phrases used by Trump supporters after he lost the election.

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don simon fbpe replied to Brauchsel | 3 weeks ago
3 likes

It was won on lies, it was not the will of the people. As the people are clearly demonstrating in their rejection of the brexit reality, as opposed to the impossible to deliver brexit dream. I'm pretty sure brexit has had little, or no, effect on doing business with the likes of Australia.

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Rich_cb replied to don simon fbpe | 3 weeks ago
2 likes
don simon fbpe wrote:

It was won on lies, it was not the will of the people.

Stop the Steal!

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don simon fbpe replied to Rich_cb | 3 weeks ago
3 likes

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/02b230449f750df147b3f85fa7ce060bae0b325a/... Not the article I wanted, but the Turkey lie is a clear example of right wing lies. Interesting that byou chose an image of an insurrectionist that who believed the lies from Trump about the stolen election.

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hawkinspeter replied to don simon fbpe | 3 weeks ago
4 likes

don simon fbpe wrote:

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/02b230449f750df147b3f85fa7ce060bae0b325a/... Not the article I wanted, but the Turkey lie is a clear example of right wing lies. Interesting that byou chose an image of an insurrectionist that who believed the lies from Trump about the stolen election.

Look, we've got clear tangible benefits of Brexit and just because you don't appreciate buying wine in pints, doesn't mean that it wasn't worth it.

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don simon fbpe replied to hawkinspeter | 3 weeks ago
1 like

A firm favourite of that chubby cheeked little racist rascal Churchill, aaah, the good old days.

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Rich_cb replied to don simon fbpe | 3 weeks ago
3 likes

I chose an image of a deranged Trump supporter who refused to accept the result of a democratic election. I also chose a slogan favoured by Trump supporters who refused to accept the result of a democratic election.

I juxtaposed them with your quote refusing to accept that the Brexit referendum result reflected the will of the people. Make of it what you will.

Turkey was a candidate country at the time of the referendum and in early 2016 struck a refugee deal with the EU which was expected to accelerate its membership application.

Is that nuance reflected in the poster? No.

Was it the only lie told by either side? No.

Both sides told significant lies. That's always the case in elections.

It doesn't invalidate the result.

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Rendel Harris replied to Rich_cb | 3 weeks ago
2 likes

Rich_cb wrote:

I chose an image of a deranged Trump supporter who refused to accept the result of a democratic election.

Non-binding advisory referendum ≠ election.

As you are so keen on the will of the people, you presumably feel we should rejoin the EU as since June 2021 not one poll (out of twenty-three) has shown that the British people believe that leaving was the right thing to do, with the latest poll showing 55% think it was the wrong thing to do, 33% still think it was the right thing and 12% are undecided, which has been about the average for the past eighteen months (https://www.statista.com/statistics/987347/brexit-opinion-poll/). Given that overwhelming evidence of the will of the people, do you think we should go along with it, or are you only really a champion of the will of the people when it very narrowly agreed with your beliefs on one day more than seven years ago?

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hawkinspeter replied to Rendel Harris | 3 weeks ago
2 likes

Rendel Harris wrote:

Non-binding advisory referendum ≠ election.

As you are so keen on the will of the people, you presumably feel we should rejoin the EU as since June 2021 not one poll (out of twenty-three) has shown that the British people believe that leaving was the right thing to do, with the latest poll showing 55% think it was the wrong thing to do, 33% still think it was the right thing and 12% are undecided, which has been about the average for the past eighteen months (https://www.statista.com/statistics/987347/brexit-opinion-poll/). Given that overwhelming evidence of the will of the people, do you think we should go along with it, or are you only really a champion of the will of the people when it very narrowly agreed with your beliefs on one day more than seven years ago?

Here's the results of a recent poll: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/dec/30/britons-brexit-bad-uk-poll-eu-finances-nhs

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chrisonabike replied to hawkinspeter | 3 weeks ago
2 likes

It's what some very important people wanted!  Though in some cases it seems that their money at least prefers to live elsewhere.

Sir James Dyson, (recent) Sir Tim Martin, Sir Jim Ratcliffe (Ineos) ...

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Rich_cb replied to Rendel Harris | 3 weeks ago
1 like

I know that English comprehension is not your strong point Rendel but surely even you can't have failed to notice that the quote you've cherry picked was referring to the US presidential election?

When I referred to the Brexit referendum in the next paragraph I called it a... referendum.

I'm more than happy to follow the will of the people. All we need to do is get a party elected with a manifesto promise to deliver a rejoin referendum, then get that through parliament, then hold an advisory referendum, then win the referendum, then get parliament to vote to implement the result, then negotiate with the EU, then get parliament to vote to accept the outcome of your negotiations.

If all that was done it would be rather undemocratic of me to refuse to accept the result.

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Rendel Harris replied to Rich_cb | 3 weeks ago
2 likes

Rich_cb wrote:

I'm more than happy to follow the will of the people. All we need to do is get a party elected with a manifesto promise to deliver a rejoin referendum, then get that through parliament, then hold an advisory referendum, then win the referendum, then get parliament to vote to implement the result, then negotiate with the EU, then get parliament to vote to accept the outcome of your negotiations.

I know that political comprehension is not your strong point Rich but surely even you can't have failed to notice that there is no constitutional requirement to hold referenda on any issue at all. Parliamentary sovereignty means that any party elected to government on a manifesto of rejoining the EU would not have to hold a referendum before doing so, and that would be perfectly democratic.

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Rich_cb replied to Rendel Harris | 3 weeks ago
0 likes

That would be legal. I would argue it wouldn't be truly democratic.

It would also be entirely legal to rejoin the EU even if it wasn't mentioned in the manifesto at all or if the manifesto promised not to. I doubt many would disagree with calling that undemocratic.

Given how vociferously Remain supporters have decried leaving the EU on 'just' 52% of the vote it would be rather hypocritical to then approve of rejoining on (what would almost certainly be) a far lower percentage of the vote and when more than one issue was in the manifesto.

If the manifesto had just one item on it and if the party behind it achieved a majority of the vote then I would consider it democratic.

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Rendel Harris replied to Rich_cb | 3 weeks ago
2 likes

Rich_cb wrote:

That would be legal. I would argue it wouldn't be truly democratic.

On that basis you must believe that no decision taken by any government in the UK ever has actually been truly democratic apart from that very small handful on which referenda have been held?

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