Category Archives: Brexit

Noel Gallagher has called Brexit a fucking absolute unmitigated disaster in a new interview.

Back in 2019, Gallagher received criticism after calling out those who wanted the result of the EU Referendum overturned. Speaking toThe Manchester Evening News,Gallagher said: Theres only one fucking thing worse that a fool who voted for Brexit. Thats the rise of the c**** trying to get the vote overturned.

Gallagher said people who take part in the democratic process should support the result of the referendum, even if they disagree with it,something hed also said previously. He reiterated that he didnt vote in the elections but that even though he doesnt support the outcome, he thinks people should stand by it.

Now, in a new interview with The Big Issue, Gallagher said Brexit was a living nightmare and detrimental for young people.

Gallagher explained: In the outskirts of Manchester, where I was born, everything is boarded up. I feel sorry for young people growing up in this country now, Brexit has been a fucking absolute unmitigated disaster.

And it will be a living nightmare until some politician has the balls to put a referendum in a manifesto and run on it and go back into the EU. Nothing works in this country anymore. Politics doesnt work. Social Services doesnt work.

He continued: Politics has come to a fucking dead end. I dont understand what any of them stand for any more. The Tories are going to run this country into the ground and then pass it over to Labour and say fucking good luck with that.

Noel Gallagher attends the Moonage Daydream London Premiere at BFI IMAX Waterloo on September 5, 2022 in London, England CREDIT: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images

He also went on to say how concerned he was for young working class musicians coming through now as they struggle with the cost-of-living crisis, as well as affording to pay for instruments and rehearsal rooms.

No ones come along to speak for them about their lives and their culture and where theyre going next, he continued.

Gallagher addressed the backlash he received for his original comments about the referendum back in 2019 in an interview with The Guardian.People started calling me a Nazi! he said. I thought: Really? A member of the Third Reich?

He went on: Look, I think its ridiculous that were leaving. None of us were even qualified to vote. You ask a guy above a chippy in Bradford if we should leave Europe. Yeah! But I still think if theres a second referendum, as a nation, well never recover. We have to come out because, no matter how ill-informed people were, youre saying to them their vote doesnt count. And its symptomatic of shutting peoples opinions down.

At the time, Gallagher said he remained optimistic about the future, despite the outcome of the EU Referendum saying well be all right.

Gallagher is currently gearing up to release a new album,Council Skies, with theHigh Flying Birds. Set to drop on June 2, it features the singles Council Skies, Dead To The World,Easy NowandPretty Boy.

Yesterday, Gallagherconfirmed that there will be a reissue ofOasis Definitely Maybealbum coming in 2024, though once again shut down the idea of there being a reunion tour taking place any time soon.

There wont be a tour, he said. We wont come back to play them together.

More:

Noel Gallagher calls Brexit a "fucking absolute unmitigated disaster" in new interview - NME

Mr Jenkinson said that although the former UKIP leader deserves some creditfor his involvement in getting Brexit done, the broadcaster is now 'trying to make himself relevant' with claims of Brexit failure.

Mr Farage appeared on Newsnight earlier this week to saythat the country had 'not actually benefited from Brexit economically', blaming what he said was a failureon 'useless' Tory politicians 'mismanaging' the departure from the European Union.

But Mr Jenkinson said that the country continues to see 'the daily benefits' of leaving the European Union.

"The government continues on its ambitious path of post-Brexit regulatory reform and delivering trade deals around the world," he said.

When asked what the benefits were, Mr Jenkinson said: "All of the trade deals we have signed we couldn't have signed when we were in the European Union, every single one of them.

"We wouldn't have been able to join the CTTP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership), we wouldn't have been able to be as quick off the blocks in supporting Ukraine, we wouldn't have had the vaccine roll out if we were still part of the European Medicines Agency.

"We are starting on a path of regulatory divergence that doesn't happen overnight, our trade with the EU is at its highest level ever and trade with the rest of the world continues to grow."

Mr Jenkinson said that although the former politician was 'owed a debt of gratitude' for Brexit, the now broadcaster is trying to make himself relevant.

"Nigel Farage continues to try and make himself relevant," he said.

"I think he is owed a debt of gratitude for his efforts in forcing Cameron's government to hold the referendum and ultimately leave the European Union, but I am afraid that wanting to unwind 50 years of European membership overnight is neither possible or in many cases in the best interests of the UK."

When asked whether he believed people in the Workington constituency still supported Brexit, Mr Jenkinson said: "Absolutely, there are a large number of them want to go faster without a doubt, but I see absolutely no evidence of people in any number changing their mind."

Read the original here:

Workington MP disagrees with Nigel Farage on 'Brexit failure' verdict | News and Star - News & Star

The worlds fourth-biggest carmaker by sales has warned of a potential existential threat to large parts of the British car industry unless the government moves to alter the terms of its post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union

By

PAN PYLAS Associated Press

May 17, 2023, 7:04 AM ET

4 min read

LONDON -- The world's fourth-biggest carmaker by sales has warned of a potential existential threat to large parts of the British car industry unless the government moves to alter the terms of its post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union.

In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into the supply of batteries for electric vehicles released Wednesday, the parent company of Citroen, Fiat, Peugeot and Vauxhall said it may not be able to keep its commitment to manufacture its new fleet of vehicles in the U.K. without changes to the terms of the deal. It also urged the government to invest heavily in domestically produced batteries.

Stellantis said the deal represented a threat" to its export business and the "sustainability" of its manufacturing operations. The company employs around 5,000 people in the U.K. and committed to make electric vehicles in the country two years ago.

The stark warning is likely to pile pressure on the Conservative government to seek changes to the trade deal that came into force at the start of 2021 when the U.K. formally left the economic structures of the EU, including the frictionless single market and customs union. Executives from Stellantis are due to meet with Britain's business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, on Wednesday.

Though the trade deal ensured that tariffs would not be slapped on the export of goods from the U.K. to the EU, an array of often-complex non-tariff barriers has made it more difficult, and often more costly, for British businesses to sell their wares in the 27-nation bloc. Many manufacturers, such as BMW, Ford and Honda, have already scaled back or closed their operations in the U.K. in recent years.

Some of these barriers are being phased in over time. Stellantis said it wanted the current phase-in period to be extended until 2027, a move that would require the trade deal to be revised.

The company said cars made in Britain and exported to the EU face an onerous 10% tariff if the rules of origin aren't met, making them uncompetitive against exports from other major car-producing regions such as Japan and South Korea.

To reinforce the sustainability of our manufacturing plants in the U.K., the U.K. must consider its trading arrangements with Europe, Stellantis said in its submission. We need to reinforce the competitiveness of the U.K. by establishing battery production in the U.K.

Car production in the U.K. remains way below levels before the pandemic at just over 775,000 units in 2022, compared with around 1.3 million in 2019, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

The trade body's chief executive, Mike Hawes, backed up Stellantis' warning regarding the rules of origin for batteries, which he said pose a significant challenge to manufacturers in the U.K. and in the EU as higher tariffs could diminish the pace at which consumers transition towards electric vehicles.

At a time when every country is accelerating their transition to zero emission transport, and global competitors are offering billions to attract investment in their industries, a pragmatic solution must be found quickly, he said

The leader of the main opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, said the post-Brexit trade deal needed revision, but insisted he wasnt calling for the U.K. to rejoin the EU or its frictionless economic arrangements.

That doesnt mean reversing the decision and going back into the EU but the deal weve got, it was said to be oven-ready. It wasn't even half-baked, he told the BBC.

In 2016, the U.K. narrowly voted to leave the EU in a referendum. A general election has to take place by early 2025, with opinion polls suggesting Labour is on course to be the largest party.

The rest is here:

Automaker warns over UK operations and calls for Brexit trade deal renegotiation - ABC News

BELFAST, May 17 (Reuters) - Northern Ireland holds elections to local councils on Thursday that the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is pitching as an opportunity to bolster its call for further concessions from Britain on a revised post-Brexit trade deal.

The DUP says it will not drop a 15-month boycott of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government unless London introduces laws to protect Northern Ireland's ability to trade freely with the rest of the UK and offers greater flexibility around a deal struck with the European Union in February to ease trade checks.

With polls suggesting the party may fall into second place behind Irish nationalists Sinn Fein - as it did in elections to the devolved assembly last year - the DUP wants to avoid losing too many votes to other unionist parties and the fast-growing cross-community Alliance Party.

"Unionists have a clear choice. They can strengthen our position as we seek to finish the job of restoring Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom or unionism can divide and splinter," DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson told supporters last week.

Counting begins on Friday and is likely to continue into Saturday.

The leaders of Britain, Ireland and most recently U.S President Joe Biden have all urged the DUP to restore power-sharing - a key part of a 1998 peace deal that mostly ended three decades of sectarian conflict.

London has said it will introduce laws to protect unfettered Northern Ireland/British trade, but it is unclear what exactly is needed to satisfy the DUP and whether the legislation will be compatible with the revised EU/UK Northern Ireland trade deal.

The DUP will view a solid election outing as a "continuing mandate" for its boycott, said Jon Tonge, professor of politics at the University of Liverpool, while a splintering of the vote benefiting the small, more hardline Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) would only serve to harden the DUP's stance.

"I'm not expecting a big rainbow to appear after the election. What's more likely than not is that this will be a display of unionist resolve which, in the short term at least, will actually make things worse," he said.

"It is a case that this is another hurdle to get over, something almost to be endured."

Reporting by Amanda Ferguson, writing by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Sharon Singleton

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

View post:

Brexit to the fore again in Northern Ireland local elections - Reuters.com

By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) -The European Unions executive body said on Wednesday it has formally adopted a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) to allow financial regulators from Britain and the bloc to cooperate more closely, though stopping short of market access.

Britains EU exit largely severed its financial sectors previously unfettered access to the bloc, raising concerns over Londons role as a global financial centre.

As part of Brexit terms, the EU agreed to formalise cooperation between financial watchdogs. However, that was put on hold Brussels following disagreements between the bloc and Britain over Northern Ireland, now resolved through the Windsor Framework.

The European Commission said on Wednesday is has adopted the draft MoU, though it still needs final political endorsement from EU states.

I am confident that our relationship and future engagement in financial services will be built on a shared commitment to preserve financial stability, market integrity, and the protection of consumers and investors, Mairead McGuinness, the EUs financial services commissioner, said in a statement.

The MoU will create a joint EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum, similar to one the EU already has with the United States.

The MoU does not deal with the access of UK-based firms to the Single Market or EU firms access to the UK market nor does it prejudge the adoption of equivalence decisions, the Commission said.

Joanna Penn, treasury minister in the UK parliaments upper house, welcomed the positive move given how EU and UK financial markets are deeply interconnected.

The Treasury stands ready to sign the MoU and we do look forward to operationalising the forum as soon as possible this year, Penn told a debate on EU-UK financial services.

Treasury ministers will meet with McGuinness next week, Penn added.

The EU has granted equivalence or EU market access to derivatives clearing houses in London until the end of June 2025.

In the meantime, the bloc has proposed a draft law to force banks and asset managers in the EU to shift a yet-to-be-decided chunk of their clearing home from London, though industry officials expect equivalence to be extended in some form after June 2025.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Paul Simao, Kirsten Donovan)

Read more:

EU pushes forward with post-Brexit forum for EU, UK financial ... - KFGO

The UK Government has published a policy paper entitled Smarter Regulation to Grow the Economy (10 May 2023) that outlines a series of upcoming employment related regulatory reforms designed, in part, to take advantage of the UKs post-Brexit regulatory freedom. The stated aim is to reduce unnecessary regulation for businesses to ensure economic growth whilst maintaining existing UK labour standards.

What are the proposed changes?

There is no timeframe for this change to come into effect and, until the legislation is papered, the specific scope of this cap is yet unknown. For example, it is not yet known how this may impact non-competes in arrangements contained outside of the employment contract but that are related to employment (e.g. within incentive agreements). Whilst currently employers will still be able to include longer non-competes in employment contracts for now, in light of the proposed change, greater consideration should be given to notice periods, garden leave provisions, the use of non-solicitation and non-poaching provisions, and the wider set of protections available to employers when drafting and negotiating contracts of employment.

[View source.]

Go here to read the rest:

Post-Brexit UK Employment Reform: Three month cap on non ... - JD Supra

Manchester is desperate for workers. There are 40,000 jobs advertised in the city at the moment, at every pay grade. Ann Summers wants a stockroom assistant (10.70 an hour), or you could invigilate exams at 14 an hour or post videos on TikTok for 20 an hour. Sellcheck Chemicals is offering up to 75,000 a year for a sales manager (No biology background needed, no previous experience necessary). Even the army is offering trainee officers 34,000 after their first year. But ask any employer in the city what its like hiring and theyll tell you: its a battle.

Whats strange about this is the fact that though all these jobs are on offer, unemployed Mancunians dont seem to want them. Figures published last week show that 18 per cent of Manchesters adults are claiming out-of-work benefits. Some 120,000 have reported as long-term sick. Welfare dysfunction has created a huge hole in the workforce.

The net migration figure released next week is expected to come in at above 700,000 a year

Its the same story in city after city. Somehow, the UK has managed to combine mass joblessness with a worker shortage. Almost one in five working-age people in Birmingham are on out-of-work benefits, and its the same story in Glasgow and Liverpool. In Blackpool, the number is closer to one in four. This is a huge waste of lives, leaving aside the issue of taxpayers money.

Though Rishi Sunak promises welfare reform, its not clear how he intends to deal with a problem of this size. His officials have warned him that things are set to get much worse. There are 5,000 claims per day for sickness benefits, many on the grounds of poor mental health almost twice thepre-pandemic rate. No one expects that rate to start slowing. Internal government forecasts now envisage the welfare caseload rising for five years, with the number on disability benefits surging by a third to 3.7 million. The Prime Ministers officials are admitting that we wont escape this trap any time soon.

So who will fill the million-plus vacancies? How can we grow the economy? The answer to this question will become clear next week, when figures are released showing that mass immigration is back on a scale that would have been unimaginable not so long ago. And rather than treating it as a problem, Sunaks government seems to regard it as a solution to Britains missing workers.

During the Brexit campaign, much fuss was made of the news that immigration had hit 323,000 a year, making a mockery of David Camerons promise to reduce it to the tens of thousands. Brexiteers and Remainers alike assumed the whole point of leaving the EU and ending free movement was to reduce arrivals. The consensus was that about 130,000 a year was right. We now take that amount of people roughly every ten weeks. The net migration figure released next week is expected to come in at above 700,000 a year: by far the largest in the history of our islands.

While its true that next weeks numbers will be inflated by refugees from Ukraine and Hong Kong, and by students (many of whom arrive with dependants in tow), the underlying trend is clear. The Office for Budget Responsibility has abandoned any idea that Brexit meant cutting back immigration, because there is no evidence that anyone in government is remotely serious about doing so. It now forecasts, long-term, around 250,000 arrivals a year almost twice the post-Brexit projections. A second great wave of migration has begun.

How to address the problems that mass migration brings, without seeming to have betrayed Brexit?

While the first wave of mass immigration in recent decades was an unforeseen consequence of expanding the European Union, this one is planned. The Tories have taken back control and used it to ramp up immigration to a level that New Labour would never have dared attempt.

Its often said that the United Kingdom is an immigrant country. This is not quite true. Until the mid-1980s, we were a net exporter of human beings. In 1948, parliament passed a law giving all 800 million citizens of the Commonwealth the right to live and work in Britain, the assumption being that hardly anyone would want to come to these rain-battered islands. Waves of migration made the news, but they barely dented the demographics. When more people started to arrive in the 1990s, the numbers were modest. So the EUs borderless future was designed at a time when no one imagined the level of mass migration to come, because it had never happened before. Tony Blair had no idea that he was about to preside over a new economic model. He didnt plan for it, because he just didnt see it coming.

The problems are becoming obvious. The mass movement of migrants meant that employers preferred cheaper, foreign-born workers over investing in training locals. The consequent increased pressure on housing, schools and hospitals are what led, in part, to the Brexit vote. People wanted their politicians to make a better job of managing globalisation.

Boris Johnson talked about controlling migration to force companies to pay decent salaries: if that meant higher prices, so be it. He saw the national shortage of truck drivers as a wake-up call: such people should be valued and paid properly. This wasnt just Brexiteer bravado. Sir Stuart Rose, the ex-M&S chairman and a Remain campaign chief, argued the same: the end of free movement would push up wages for low-skilled workers, he said though he thought this was not necessarily a good thing. Both sides agreed Brexit would mean lower migration and higher salaries. Not many would make that case now. Rather than rising, real-term incomes are midway through their sharpest fall since postwar records began.

A milestone was passed this week when it emerged that 20 per cent of the UK workforce is foreign-born making us more of an immigrant country than even the United States. Brexit has brought in a different mix of migrants. India has supplanted Poland as the biggest source country for new workers: followed by the Philippines, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Australia and the United States. Interestingly, post-Covid sickness and mental health issues havent seemed to afflict Britains immigrant community in the same way as they have its natives.

But while the US regards itself proudly as an immigration nation, our Prime Ministers strategy is to act as if nothing is happening. There is no Statue of Liberty at Victoria Coach Station in London, though a quarter of all UK schoolchildren have an immigrant mother. In London its just over half.

Brexit Britain can claim to be one of the most welcoming countries in the world with a work visa approval rate of about 96 per cent. Its almost 100 per cent for Americans (12,382 applied and just 47 were refused). Non-EU citizens are no longer treated as second class: in fact someone from Kyrgyzstan is more likely to get a work visa than someone from Germany. Before Brexit, just seven people from Tajikistan were granted visas a year. Now, its about seven a day. Visas for people from India have doubled since the Brexit vote. Zimbabwe is up 20-fold, Uzbekistan 100-fold.

Britain is now the country where workers of the world unite. So far, all this is being done with success and harmony that would astonish the rest of the world. There is virtually no anti-migrant backlash: indeed, a recent poll showed Britain to be one of the most pro-immigrant countries in the world. Were also about the only country in Europe not to have a serious anti-immigrant populist party in parliament or with any significant showing in the opinion polls. Concern about migration is far lower than it was pre-Brexit, even if the numbers are higher, which is in part because the government has taken control of who arrives.

To enter Britain there is a list of conditions: you need to be an English speaker with a sponsor, a job offer and a minimum salary, and in an approved profession. Perhaps this has made the influx less controversial its immigration but with greater democratic consent. But its also easy to see how this could begin to sour. We still need many more workers and they will all keep coming. There will be ever more pressure on hospitals and schools. This is the problem Sunak faces now. How to address the problems that mass migration brings, without seeming to have betrayed Brexit?

Perhaps every new worker is vital to the economy but the fact remains that the government is issuing visas equivalent to a city the size of Southampton every year and there are certainly no plans to build a new Southampton every year. He needs to ask: where will the newcomers live? Who will build their houses, teach their children, tend to their sick? To dodge these questions, to pretend its not all happening, guarantees big problems in the future.

Being honest about mass migration also means being honest about the trajectory of British welfare. Yes, Sunak would like reform. But if his own officials are predicting a massive increase in mental health caseloads, on the assumption that the problem is going to get far worse, then its time to talk about this too. Why do we think a million more people are going to end up on disability benefits? Why in Britain, not anywhere else? The reason this question is so difficult to discuss is that tough-love welfare reform is fraught with political danger. No politician wants to be accused of being heartless.

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that its just 1 a week.

Politically, its easier to write the cheque and forget about the long-term sick. Its astonishingly easy to do so. When figures were released this week showing 5.3 million on out-of-work benefits, up from 5.2 million already a staggering figure it was given no coverage at all. Its amazing how recategorisation of benefits can make millions disappear: politically, at least.

Sunak embodies the quiet success of British integration, but theres a risk in getting too carried away. The industrious Zimbabwean and Australian immigrants can hardly be blamed for welfare dysfunction. But if they are being used to cover it up, then its worth discussing.

Is it possible to give up on welfare reform and use mass immigration to build post-Brexit Britain? Absolutely. Is it desirable? Thats another question. And its one the Prime Minister should really get around to answering before too long.

Visit link:

Migration nation: Brexit has meant more immigration than ever - The Spectator

Dive Brief:

England, Scotland and Wales, collectively known as Great Britain, never adopted the European Unions Medical Devices Regulation (MDR) because its delayed date of application happened after the end of the Brexit transition period. Northern Ireland, which along with Great Britain makes up the United Kingdom, is subject to MDR under the terms of the Brexit deal.

As such, Great Britain needs its own regulatory regime for medical devices and in vitro diagnostics (IVDs). The government outlined its plans last year, at which time it was targeting a 2023 implementation date for the new regulations. Last year, officials extended the transitional arrangements out to July 2024.

The new plan gives the industry even more time to adapt. Officials are now aiming for core aspects of the future regime for medical devices to apply from July 1, 2025. Manufacturers will still be able to sell CE-marked devices in Great Britain for years after that date.

Under legislation that the government plans to introduce soon, CE-marked general medical devices that comply with the outgoing EU directives can be sold in Great Britain until June 30, 2028. The transition period for IVDs placed on the market under the outgoing directive, and for all medical devices that comply with MDR, will end on June 30,2030.

The transition period applies to CE marks granted before Great Britain fully establishes its own medtech regulatory regime in July 2025, according to a statement issued by the Medicines & Healthcare productsRegulatory Agency.

Manufacturers with CE marks that expire after that date will need to get certified under the new Great Britain system. The agency said it plans to adopt new, stronger postmarketing requirements in mid-2024.

See original here:

Great Britain proposes allowing CE marks until 2030 to minimize ... - MedTech Dive

Food inflation in the UK is running at 19.1% a year, the highest level in 45 years. The average family is having to find a fifth more to feed themselves every week, compared with the same time last year. It is a huge burden on people and especially the poor, who spend a much higher proportion of their incomes on essentials.

The first thing to say is that although Britain currently has western Europes worst overall inflation rate (10.1%, compared with 7.8% in Germany, 6.6% in France and a tiny 3.1% in Spain), it is far from the only country with food inflation problems. Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands all have lower food inflation rates, but our 19.1% is actually 0.1% better than the EU average. However, that average is distorted by Hungarys rate of 44.5% and high rates among many of its closest neighbours, who are also suffering from their proximity to the war in Ukraine, but do not have the added drag of a chaotic government run by the despotic Viktor Orbn.

But Britain has its own Orbn factor something that is helping to make our inflation worse than the rest of Europes and our food inflation higher than it should be.

We all know that Brexit has added to the burden. It has disrupted supply, undermined the road haulage industry, and added piles of expensive red tape to every lorry load of food that crosses the border into the UK, pushing up prices by 6%. That is on top of the massive increase in energy, commodity and fuel prices caused by the war in Ukraine and helps explain why UK inflation, and especially food inflation, is so high.

But now Brexit has another gift for the hard-pressed and the desperate because Brexit is not finished. The government may have forgotten to remind you, but it has stopped checking the quality, safety and origins of the food that enters the UK; it just wasnt ready for Brexit and so, unlike the EU, it has just been waving through thousands of trucks a day without checking them. It has delayed introducing those tests four times, because it failed to plan for Brexit and because it knows it will hike food prices in the UK again.

We know this because last year the minister for Brexit opportunities at the time, Jacob Rees-Mogg, travelled to Dover to delay their introduction once again. He said that introducing the checks would have been an act of self-harm because they would have cost 1bn a year and increased peoples food bills. But what wasnt so widely reported is that he went on to say that for some costs it would be quite significant If you look at small deliveries like cheese, you are talking about a 71% increase maximum level on the retail price and frankly at that level the goods would just not have come in. Well, I couldnt have put it better myself massive hikes in prices and many foods not even making it into the UK.

But the checks will have to be introduced sometime. Food safety organisations, vets, retailers and food manufacturers know full well that the UK is playing Russian roulette over this issue. No checks mean that a repeat of the horsemeat scandal, or another foot and mouth outbreak are increasingly likely, and the farming industry is terrified of what might happen.

Meanwhile, food safety and standards are under threat. With no checks the UK is the go-to destination for every dodgy dealer trying to offload rotten meat, infected eggs, counterfeit cheese, adulterated olive oil and stinking fish.

At the time of the last delay, Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers Union, said: It is astounding that the government is taking such an unacceptable approach to critical checks for agri-food imports from the EU.

These checks are absolutely crucial to the nations biosecurity, animal health and food safety and without them we really do leave ourselves at risk.

Not only that but since British food exporters face all the correct and necessary checks when selling into the EU, the industry is at a huge disadvantage. It is being undercut by EU rivals who sail through the border.

But the ex-minister is now hardening his position. When grilled on this very subject of border checks on his own TV show, Rees-Mogg said this week: I stopped them. There is no reason to bring them in. They should be stopped again. If the government wishes to put those controls on, that is the act of a democratic government. Do I think they are foolish? Yes, I do. That is why I succeeded in stopping them last year.

Which just reeks of desperation. He stopped them because they would have increased food inflation even more, and they will do that again but without them the whole food sector is under threat. It is inevitable that they will be introduced. Shane Brennan of the Cold Chain Federation told the New European earlier this year that when these new controls were expected to be introduced last year: We were clear at that time that this would have collapsed a significant part of the food supply chain into the UK.

Now Brennan has written an explanation of just how messy it is going to be for Britain in a changing Europe. Take a producer of buffalo mozzarella in Italy. As of October 31 they will for the first time possibly ever have to: learn the new UK rules; find a vet to certify goods on site, at a cost of 200 to 700 a time; find a specialist haulier; employ an agent to ensure the data gets onto the UKs food import IT system, alongside customs declarations, at maybe 50 to 200 a time; and pay a new border inspection charge of up to 43 on every consignment.

These new rules will add billions to food import costs and many small EU exporters will decide it is not worth selling in the UK. We know this because a third of British exporters stopped exporting when the EU introduced the exact same checks in 2021. The UK imports 30% of its food from the EU; serious shortages will start very quickly if the system collapses.

All of this will happen just as food inflation should be improving, as the huge price rises we have seen in recent months drop out of the calculations. No other country will be introducing new expensive self-imposed border controls and checks, meaning that food inflation is likely to fall faster and further elsewhere.

In short, someone is going to have to pay for this mess, and it will be you every time you go to the shops.

See the original post:

Britain, the Brexit basket case - The New European

The Scottish Tories cannot be trusted on rural affairs issues as long as they fail to recognise the impact of Brexit on the sector, an SNP MSP has said.

Jim Fairlie, who was a prominent backer of Kate Forbes during the recent SNP leadership contest, attacked the Scottish Conservatives over their shameful betrayal of Scottish farmers.

At the Scottish Tory conference in Glasgow, party leader Douglas Ross announced a members bill from Rachael Hamilton MSP which would seek to better protect farm equipment from theft, and said his party would introduce a rural development bank to help boost local rural economies.

The party also plans to propose ring-fencing funding from the rural affairs and islands budget to support farmers and crofters and introducing a version of the UK Governments controversial Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding Bill).

However, Mr Fairlie said Brexit had been an unmitigated disaster for Scotlands farmers due to the lack of a equal replacement for EU subsidies, the impact of Brexit on immigration, and allowing cheap imports of lesser quality meat from other countries.

This, he said, demonstrated the party could not be trusted to stand up for Scottish farmers and crofters.

The MSP for Perthshire South and Kinross-shire said: Amidst all of this, theyve chosen to short-changed Scotlands farmers and crofters by failing to provide our food producers with any additional help to meet inflationary pressures, including energy costs.

The deafening silence from the Scottish Tories on the impact of Brexit is nothing short of a shameful betrayal of Scotlands farmers.

Ms Hamilton responded: Jim Fairlie should look closer to home when it comes to failing our farmers and crofters. The SNP are continuing to dither and delay over what future support for the agriculture sector will look like and they have let down our rural communities constantly during their 16 years in power.

SNP MSPs would prefer to pick fights with the UK Government rather than giving the green light to gene editing technology, which would help keep food prices affordable and assist farmers in making a living.

The Scottish Conservatives recently produced policy paper on Scotlands food future will help to meet our ambitious net zero targets, with detailed plans to support more products being grown locally, which will be better for our environment.

Read more:

SNP MSP attacks 'deafening silence' of Tories on Brexit who fail to ... - The Scotsman