Westministenders: Unilateral Ignoring of WHO rules

[RedToothBrush]

Where we are:

On 1st January the EU started to apply checks on all goods from the UK coming into the Union.

However the UK decided to take a slower route to this, and planned that on the 1st April the UK we would be carrying out Sanitary & Phytosanitary paperwork for animal and plant EU imports like meat and eggs.

Then on 1 July we'd implement a full customs check on all goods arriving into the UK from EU member states.

Obviously we've struggled with exports as we weren't ready for this and its fucked business. But ultimately the import side of things has yet to hit the shit fan still.

It sounds like there is likely to be issues with imports of food in particular, so there is talk of delaying our plan of checks until later in the day. There is concern that the reopening of pubs and restuarants which will up demands of imports occuring at the same time as checks are put in place is likely to be 'problematic'.

Remember we get 2/3 of fruit, veg and cheese from the EU. And half our wine. And to date these largely have only been affected by haulage issues NOT UK customs issues...

You might want to keep that in mind.

The comments in that article DGR also mentioned the 90 day period being almost up for 3rd country nationals travelling in Schengen countries - which could begin to cause problems. Truly Brexit is the gift which keeps on giving.

Perhaps we should qualify this to accommodate the sensitivity of Leavers - Johnson's poor deal is the gift which keeps on giving. If either Cameron or May had reacted calmly and said that the result was close, and spent a year or so investigating the options, we might well have gone for a Norway/Iceland type arrangement, and then started to negotiate in a calm co-operative manner with decent enough results. Then Boris Big Bollocks comes along with his belligerence and bingo a bad deal.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/mar/27/brexit-uk-cheese-firm-boss-in-despair-over-ministers-export-advice

"The boss of a Cheshire cheese firm has told of his despair over Brexit after an unexpected meeting with the environment minister Victoria Prentis resulted in advice to look at the US and Canada markets."

It's almost as if they have no idea how markets work.... how long it takes to build a customer base and the extra costs of trying to acheive that in the States and Canada...... honestly the wilful destruction of businesses makes me so mad

I thought that all these "new" more distant markets were supposed to be in addition to rather than instead of our existing on our doorstep markets?

After all, didn't they need us more than we need them?

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-26/u-k-u-s-trade-deal-is-likely-years-away-as-biden-shifts-focus

I think the text that Liz Truss talks about being mostly done , was done with the Trump administration. I would expect that to be pretty much worthless at this point.....

I imagine that's part of the Government's game mrslaughan - tie us in as much as possible to the US market, so that we eventually don't see the need to question chlorinated chicken or hormone feed beef, and further down the line are more than happy to say goodbye to the NHS because its socialist (i.e communist) medical care.

I think if they could take Great Britain and tow it across the Atlantic and anchor it off the East Coast of the US, they would do so.

@prettybird .... it makes me incandescent with rage and deeply depressed all at the same time - it's hopeless.

Also - little titbit from the horse industry- if you are sending a horse to the Island of Ireland it has to have rather arduous health checks (I have seen the stack of papers - no wonder vets REALLY don't want to do them - all the stamping signing and dating - sometimes 4 times a page) ..... but if the horse is going to Northern Ireland - you send the bill to HMG and they pay the Vets fee...... which as a tax payer pisses me off. Since none of this was required pre-Brexit...apparently this little deal is due to end at the end of April - but who knows with Johnson unilaterally tearing up the protocol...

It might be true of course that the Americans could do with some good Cheshire Cheese. I am partial to it myself - having once lived for many years in adjacent counties to Cheshirei in both Wales and England that is what cheese is to me. Initially when I first moved 'down south' cheese was Cheddar and it was difficult to get Cheshire. Which has changed now, mostly, although Covid/Brexit shortages haven't helped.

when the president referred to his great grandfather who fled Ireland in a so-called coffin ship “because of what the Brits had been doing.”

From the Bloomberg link. Now this is unfair. It is what the English upper class did, deliberately starving Ireland. Don't lump the Scots and the Welsh in.

Agree @Peregrina, but the same goes for the working class English too.

But still many of the English working class are happy with this - see the once Red Wall seats.

Yeah, I see what you mean.

... it was difficult to get Cheshire. Which has changed now, mostly, although Covid/Brexit shortages haven't helped.
Wot now? Brexit is the reason why Cheshire isn't Cheshire any more?

It's almost as if they have no idea how markets work...how long it takes to build a customer base and the extra costs of trying to achieve that in the States and Canada...

He has a head start with the US market: Looking at the Cheshire Cheese Company twitter feed, he gave an interview with USA national broadcaster NPR a few weeks ago (on Brexit) - plus the US recently suspended 25% tariffs on whiskey, cheese and other products from UK.

www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-suspends-tariffs-on-scotch-cheese-and-other-products-from-u-k-11614888444

The Cheshire Cheese Company clearly export to Canada already;
15 March 2021 - Great to see that our Trio of Truckles have arrived @ costcocanada safely!

Also from the Guardian article;
A spokesperson for Defra said Spurrell’s reflection of the meeting was different to theirs and while the minister was unable to help him on the health certificate requirements, she “highlighted our desire to help the Cheshire Cheese Company where possible”.

The department also committed to sending him “further information on possible trading solutions – including on groupage [multiple consignments per truck], which some dairy businesses are using to export products successfully.”

If he already exports to Canada he will almost certainly know how much he could increase his trade there. But we weren't promised that our existing trade would be trashed.This was all to be a bonus.

I suspect he already knows about things like groupage, having been in the business for a number of years - which is wholly likely to be more than Victoria Prentis will do, who admitted to not reading Johnson's deal before voting for it, because organising a nativity trail trumped supporting British Industry.

But this is par for the course for Clavinova's posts - steal £1000 from someone and she would tell us we should be grateful that someone gave us a fiver.

steal £1000 from someone and she would tell us we should be grateful that someone gave us a fiver.

The Guardian article says he has given nearly 100 media interviews - that's more than a fiver in free advertising.

@Clavinova

steal £1000 from someone and she would tell us we should be grateful that someone gave us a fiver.

The Guardian article says he has given nearly 100 media interviews - that's more than a fiver in free advertising.

Probably desperate to find new markets, having had his previous ones mostly trashed...

In fact the cheesemaker did say in one of his [filmed] interviews that he had been able to export to his wholesaler in France several times this year (with some difficulty but that should get easier, e.g. the vet didn't understand the forms) - it's the online sales to private consumers in the EU being the major problem. Those sales had increased by 400% during 2020 - mainly due to the pandemic and the increase in online buying - so his online sales to the EU were much smaller pre-pandemic. Still problems with his Northern Ireland wholesaler as at 4th March but hopefully that will improve as well.

The £250,000 loss of business referred to in the Guardian article is a bit misleading - that figure included a growth forecast for 2021 - actual on-line sales were £180,000 in 2020 (having already increased by 400% during the pandemic).

On the plus side - at the very end of the interview he said that January and February 2021 had been the "two best months ever" for UK sales - an increase of 750% ('Buy British' + media exposure). He already exports to the US - so should benefit from the tariff suspension as well? He was still planning to open a new warehouse in Macclesfield because the company had outgrown their current one.

actual on-line sales were £180,000 in 2020
To EU consumers.

However, while one solitary cheese manufacturer might not lose as much as some are suggesting, in the meantime the entire UK meat industry forecasts losing up to 50% of it's exports...

Blessed are the cheesemakers ...

in the meantime the entire UK meat industry forecasts losing up to 50% of it's exports...

Might be as low as a 20%;
"a potential loss of trade for UK exporters [to the EU] of between 20 and 50 per cent."

Link from the link -
The report focuses on three key areas that, if addressed, would drastically improve our ability to hold on to our trade with EU customers.

At least two of the recommendations in the report should be achievable;

Inspection and certification – learning from other more efficient and cost-effective systems.
Electronic documentation – moving from an antiquated paper-based system to a modern, integrated digital system.
Common Veterinary Area – negotiating a more robust agreement with the EU to follow parallel rules which would ease problems sending food to both the EU and to Northern Ireland.

I have a strong suspicion that ex Remainers are going to weather Brexit better, for the simple reason of having been prepared for 'Project Fear'. The Cheese manufacturer has clearly been looking at the options.

Contrast this with George Eustace whining about it's not fair that our shellfish aren't allowed because of EU rules (helped to be made by the UK as members). Or the couple whining about how they can't stay in their home in Spain now, but who voted Leave.

Just two cases I have read about in the last two days. Then of course there was the UKIP voting eel man.

Or the innumerable posts about how the EU hasn't done this or that or the other right.

You have got your Brexit Leavers. Funny how you don't like what Johnson has served up and the nodding dogs in his Government couldn't be arsed to read up on.

Funny how the Government has had nearly five years to make preparations for Brexit and still need to be told what they should have been putting in place four years ago.

Common Veterinary Area – negotiating a more robust agreement with the EU to follow parallel rules which would ease problems sending food to both the EU and to Northern Ireland.

Won't happen unless Biden tells UK Govt to put a sock in it. Trump trade deals are no longer the priority of the USA so that might just help it to happen.. Big climb down for the Brexiters though - but if Johnson could slide it past, he might.

Funny how the Government has had nearly five years to make preparations for Brexit and still need to be told what they should have been putting in place four years ago.

Well it was five years of preparation, or some bollocks over a flag.

Which would you choose ?

Remember: as before, so after. In the same way the government was not allowed to put any working into "Remain" before the referendum, it was also forbidden from putting any work into it after, since - and we need to remember this - it was the easiest deal in history