The UK government has confirmed a fifth delay to the implementation of its post-Brexit border controls on food and fresh products, as ministers admitted the new regime on EU imports would push up prices.
The Cabinet Office said on Tuesday that the government’s plans were likely to have an impact on headline inflation, although it insisted the effect was “expected to be minor”, estimating it would increase the rate by less than 0.2 per cent across three years.
Ministers confirmed the move, first reported by the FT last week, to push back the launch of new paperwork requirements at the border from October to January. New physical checks on imports, due to come into effect in January, will now start in April.
The latest delay to introducing border checks followed Treasury concerns over the inflationary impact of the incoming regime and a request by traders for more time to prepare.
The post-Brexit controls on animal and plant products were originally meant to start in 2021. Full checks have been applied to British exports heading into the EU since January 2021, to the fury of UK farmers who believe they are competing against continental rivals on an uneven playing field.
Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, which represents the part of the logistics industry transporting products such as perishable food and cut flowers, said the delay was sensible because of the inflationary impact of the new border.
“These Brexit checks will fuel food price inflation whenever they are brought in and so the longer they are held off the better,” he said. He described the repeated postponement of the deadline as a blow to the UK government’s credibility.
Brennan also warned that the latest changes to the timetable “will not help us with the already massive task of making EU-based businesses aware that Brexit is, in fact, still not ‘done’ and they have to invest in the processes necessary to sell to UK customers from early next year”.
The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA), which represents the plant and nursery growing industry, said the revised plan for implementing the new border controls did “not go far enough” to address industry concerns.
In May the HTA warned that the new checks would impose costs of over £42mn a year in additional red tape on plant imports worth over £750mn a year, the bulk of which come via the EU.
Fran Barnes, HTA chief executive, added that while the new plan had addressed some of the sector’s worries, there also remained a “major concern” over the readiness at the border to conduct physical inspections of imports.
William Bain, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, was more welcoming and said businesses would “be pleased with this clarity as they prepare for the challenging shift to a digital trade system”. But he warned that ministers had to ensure the new regime would be operable within the timescale they had set out.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, Labour’s shadow international trade secretary, accused the government of presiding over a “chaotic mess” given the successive failures to put in place new post-Brexit border controls. “Leaving major changes until so close to the implementation deadline is unacceptable,” he added.
The new border controls would use data and technology to cut red tape for traders, the government said. It added that after listening to businesses the changes it had made to its previous proposals for the post-Brexit border regime would reduce the costs to industry by an estimated £520mn.
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