James Ramsbotham, the chief executive of the North East England Chamber of Commerce, shared his growing anger at the region suffering from EU trade due to the Prime Minister's "dogmatic attitude". Mr Ramsbotham said there is a long list of barriers that “ministers failed to sort out” with the EU, such as how to apply new rules of origin that determine which goods qualify as tariff-free, difficulties getting export health certificates and extra checks on goods that create queues at ports.
He added he is has written to Mr Johnson to give the North East his “most urgent and personal attention” - but said he still hasn't received a reply two weeks later.
He told the Guardian: “This is not teething problems. Our ports face the EU and our region has the highest proportion of any exporting to the EU. It is vital that more barriers come down.
"Many business people in the northeast tell me the only way to improve the situation is to go back into the single market.
"We didn’t say that in the letter because the Prime Minister’s dogmatic attitude to the subject told us it would fall on deaf ears.
“This is not teething problems. Our ports face the EU and our region has the highest proportion of any exporting to the EU.
"It is vital that more barriers come down.”
Mr Ramsbotham also shared his concerns about other businesses in the region being affected, such as the rail manufacturer Hitachi.
He said: “Hitachi bought a site in the northeast with a view to building trains for the whole of Europe.
"The place was big enough for three factories, but they have only built one and the rest of the land is vacant.
"If you want to see where the trains are going to be made for the EU, you’ll need to visit Hitachi’s new factory in Italy.”
The Government has not responded to his claims.
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9.34am update: EU slapped down over trade row - Brussels 'not interested in money, all about control'
The European Union has been accused of being more interested in 'control' than money during post-Brexit negotiations with the UK.
Centre for Brexit Policy fellow Catherine McBride has told a roundtable discussion hosted by TRT World that the idea Brussels is interested in free trade is a "joke."
She told the panel the bloc is a customs union interested solely in protecting European businesses, adding that Britain must go and seek fresh trade opportunities elsewhere.
Ms McBride told TRT Roundtable: "The idea that Britain somehow is not going in with the spirit of world trade and the EU is kind of a joke.
"I mean the EU is a customs union, it is all about protecting its own businesses from international trade.
"The EU has not offered the UK any kind of financial service equivalence, they are desperately trying to get that business for themselves."
9.15am update: Richard Branson U-turn: Billionaire takes advantage of Brexit after calling it 'disaster'
The billionaire founder of Virgin Group is reportedly set to float airline Virgin Atlantic on the London Stock Exchange imminently. It would see the 71-year-old maverick entrepreneur relinquish overall control of the airline he founded in 1984 and would have been far more difficult before Brexit.
This is because, under EU rules, airlines must be majority-owned by shareholders from the EU.
Brexit has swept aside this needless bureaucracy, allowing the vocal Remainer to raise extra funds for the underfire airline.
News Sir Richard is likely to benefit from Brexit flies in the face of many of his past comments.
Just days after the 2016 referendum, he warned that "thousands of jobs will be lost" because of the democratic vote.
Speaking at the time he said: "The UK Government must now put all options on the table, and giving the people a final say must be one of these options.
"If it is not, there is only one alternative - a clear decision by Parliament to require the Government to revoke Article 50 and start the process again from scratch, armed with the facts.
“There is little time to avoid a multi-generational disaster."