Related video: Brexit to blame for food shortages in Britain, chair of Save British Food says
New post-Brexit checks on food and drink imports have come into force today amid concerns that fresh checks at the border will lead to increased costs for businesses.
The new rules mean that health certificates will now be needed on a wide range of EU goods such as meat, fruit and vegetables. A further system for physical checks at the border is coming into force on 30 April.
But fears have been expressed about disruption to supply chains, with businesses concerned about delays and increased costs.
Conservative health minister Dame Andrea Leadsom played down concerns about more red tape, saying that checks at the UK/EU border are the “price you pay” for leaving the EU.
She told Times Radio: “It was very clear in the Brexit discussions a long time ago now, today is the fourth anniversary of leaving the EU, it was very clear that we would be leaving the single market.
“What that does mean is that there is some friction in trade. However, we also have huge trading arrangements with other countries around the world.”
UK government is ‘Brexit-betraying’, says DUP MP
The UK government has been accused of being spineless, weak-kneed and “Brexit-betraying” by a DUP MP.
Speaking in the Commons, Sammy Wilson, MP for East Antrim, said: “When the Northern Ireland assembly sits, ministers and assembly members will be expected by law to adhere to and implement laws which are made in Brussels, which they had no say over and no ability to amend, and no ability to stop.
“This is a result of this spineless, weak-kneed, Brexit-betraying Government, refusing to take on the EU and its interference in Northern Ireland.”
He added: “Is Northern Ireland going to find it’s got the ability to stay tied to the United Kingdom, or will the Government proceed happily to change laws here regardless of the impact it has on Northern Ireland?”
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris replied: “On the fourth anniversary of leaving the European Union, I can tell him absolutely that this agreed package of measures will not change the freedoms and powers we have secured through Brexit or through the Windsor framework.
Labour will look again at EU relationship if businesses are ‘struggling’ with new checks
Labour said the party, should it win this year’s expected general election, would look again at the trading relationship with Brussels if businesses are “struggling” with the new checks.
Tulip Siddiq, a shadow Treasury minister, told Sky News: “If there are things that aren’t working, then of course we need to review it and look at it.
“We would look at look at where businesses are struggling, where the economy is struggling, and go and see if we can get a better deal for our country.
“That is what anyone who is in charge should be doing.
“They (voters) may have voted to leave the European Union, but they didn’t vote to get a bad deal.”
Boris Johnson celebrates four years of Brexit
Boris Johnson marked four years since Brexit took effect with a warning of any watering down of the current arrangements.
It comes with the government set to publish the details of its deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), setting the stage for the return of the Stormont powersharing institutions.
But some Tories have concerns it could limit the UK’s post-Brexit freedom to diverge from EU rules.
The former prime minister, in a post on X, hit out at “artificial” concerns about the border on the island of Ireland and warned against any return to the kind of deal pushed unsuccessfully by Theresa May.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he said: “Four years on from Brexit we celebrate the restoration of this country’s democratic power to make its own laws and rules.
“With those Brexit freedoms we have introduced improved standards for animal welfare, cut taxes on sanitary products, created greater flexibility for cutting edge industries from financial services to bioscience, done many global free trade deals – and it was at least partly thanks to Brexit that this country had the fastest covid vaccine rollout in Europe.
“We must retain the appetite and the courage to diverge from the low-growth high-regulation European model.
“We must at all costs avoid a return to anything remotely like the disastrous ‘Chequers’ formula whereby artificial concerns about the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland are used to keep the whole of the UK in alignment with EU rules.”
Brexit a ‘seismic moment’ and will take time to ‘filter through’, says minister
Brexit was a “seismic moment in British politics” and “something of that magnitude is going to take time to filter through”, Cabinet minister Victoria Atkins said.
The health secretary told reporters that the Covid vaccine rollout was an example of Britain’s ability to move quicker than the EU after leaving the bloc.
She said: “I’ll give you one very positive example of how being free from the EU enabled us to make real change to our society and that, of course, was through the vaccination programme during Covid.
“We were able to come out of lockdown faster than any other country, because we were able to make those decisions about the vaccination programme and roll it out as quickly as we did.”
She claimed the pharmaceutical industry viewed the UK’s position outside the EU as a “real game changer for them” and “I think we really are going to see some really exciting opportunities in the years ahead of us to the things”.
Labour vows to ‘review’ Brexit deal in government
Labour would look again at the trading relationship with the European Union if businesses are “struggling” with new checks that have come into force, a shadow minister has suggested.
Tulip Siddiq, a shadow Treasury minister, told Sky News: “If there are things that aren’t working, then of course we need to review it and look at it.”
She added: “We would look at look at where businesses are struggling, where the economy is struggling, and go and see if we can get a better deal for our country.
“That is what anyone who is in charge should be doing.
“They [voters] may have voted to leave the European Union, but they didn’t vote to get a bad deal.
“[The EU] are still our closest trading partners. If we can work to get some sort of negotiation which is good for our country, I don’t think any British person is going to say no to our economy improving or our trade deals getting better.”
Watch: Stormont powersharing set to return after DUP executive backs deal
Tory Brexiteer dismisses cost of new food checks as ‘price you pay’ for Brexit
Conservative minister Andrea Leadsom has dismissed the concerns of business chiefs over the costly new checks imposed on imports from the EU as the “price you pay” for Brexit.
The leading Brexiteer defended the “friction” in the new system for physical checks at the border – describing it as “the costs of doing business”.
Ms Leadsom said British firms must “adapt” and could even consider “changing their trading arrangements with the EU” if they wanted to bring down their costs.
Adam Forrest and Zoe Grunewald report
New Brexit border regime could pose ‘serious biosecurity risks’
Concerns have been expressed as new post-Brexit rules come into force.
The long-delayed new rules, coming into force today, are part of the UK Government’s introduction of a series of checks this year.
But fears have been expressed about disruption to supply chains, with MPs saying the new border regime could present “serious biosecurity risks” to the UK.
Former BBC journalist says he ‘doesn’t remember Brexit campaigners saying the cost of doing business was going to rise’
Earlier today Conservative minister Andrea Leadsom dismissed the concerns of UK small business owners regarding increased costs and checks at the UK/EU border.
She said it was the “price you pay” for Brexit and said that “businesses are used to the costs of doing business”, as the new rules on food imports came into force today.
Former BBC journalist and now podcast host Jon Sopel has responded to the comments on X, formerly Twitter, and raised some interesting points.
He said: “Sorry. Maybe I have false memory syndrome, but I don’t remember the Brexit campaigners during referendum warning companies that cost of doing business was going to rise steeply and become ever more bureaucratic. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention.”
Parma hams and Spanish chorizos to disappear from UK shelves due to new Brexit checks, Rishi Sunak warned
Specialist meats such as Parma hams and Spanish chorizo sausages could begin disappearing from the shelves of UK supermarkets and delis because of costly new Brexit checks, food sector chiefs have told The Independent.
Rishi Sunak’s government has been warned of major supply problems with EU meat and dairy products when extra red tape and inspections are imposed on imports from April.
Some suppliers of specialist products, like French cheeses, will give up on Britain because of the extra expense and “huge hassle” involved in sending goods, say industry bosses.
Adam Forrest reports.
