Category Archives: Brexit

The food industry tycoon known as the "Chicken King" has told Sky News the so-called "pingdemic" staffing crisis is just a small part of unprecedented pressures on supplies, with food shortages already being felt.

Ranjit Singh Boparan, whose interests include the 2 Sisters Food Group (2SFG) and a string of casual dining brands, used an interview with Ian King Live to warn that even the Christmas turkey was under threat because of a wider shortage of skilled workers, such as butchers, in the wake of Brexit.

He explained that government plans to alleviate disruption caused by the pandemic did not go far enough as a limited number of supermarket shelves and freezer sections became bare.

It was announced last Thursday that daily contact testing was to be rolled out to workers in the food supply sector under a wider easing of rules that would allow staff deemed "critical" to be exempt from self-isolation if "pinged" as a close contact by the NHS COVID-19 app.

Mr Boparan told the programme that a "couple of hundred" people at 2SFG were currently in quarantine - describing the situation as "not too bad" but he said there remained a lack of clarity on exemptions from ministers.

He complained that a string of other challenges had created a "perfect storm" for the sector, warning last week of the prospect of the worst food shortages since rationing at the end of the Second World War.

Those challenges, he said, included ingredient, energy and wage inflation - all exacerbated by post-Brexit staff shortages including a lack of trained hauliers.

The tycoon, who employs 15,000 staff at 2SFG producing staples such as chicken, pies and biscuits, said his business had been hurt by a lot of people returning to their countries of origin within the EU and a lack of skilled UK workers to replace them.

"If you look at the furlough scheme, you've got 2.3 million people on the furlough scheme yet we're short of people within the food sector," he said.

"A shortage of drivers is just one element of the supply chain, a very important element which is being made very public, but if you just times up by 100, that's the labour shortage that we're facing in the food industry, not just the poultry industry - the food industry today - and is something that we need to address.

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"Just look at the supply chain, the supply chain starts from the farm.

"If [we are] short of labour on the farms, we're not going to get the product. If we manage to get it from the farms to the factories and we are short [of] labour there, we're not going to get it to the depots.

"If we do manage to get to the depots and they can't get the staff there, they're not going to get on to lorries. If we are short of drivers, and they can't get to the supermarket shelves - that's another problem.

"If you haven't got the people in the supermarkets to put the product on the shelves... you just think about all the supply chain - you just need one element not to work and at the moment there's several elements that are not working."

He said a return to basic food products was also possible because of difficulties sourcing ingredients in time for convenience products such as chicken Kievs.

On the prospect of disruption to turkey supplies, he added: "How do you expect a thousand workers to come in to provide turkeys at Christmas. It's not going to happen."

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COVID-19: Food industry's 'Chicken King' warns of looming Xmas turkey crisis as 'pingdemic' and Brexit hit staffing levels - Sky News

Image: Screenshot of Games-workshop.com

Games Workshop Group says it saw record digital sales and engagement in its latest full year but its physical stores and operations were hit by both Covid and Brexit.

Games Workshop says its digital offering has never been richer as it reaches thousands of people of people a day through its Warhammer community website and through social media. In the last year, 25% of its sales were made via its own website, 20% of sales in store and 55% via trade partners who sell both online and in their own stores.

Over the last year it relapsed more than 10,000 pieces of digital content, hosted online events and streamed live seminars each with more than a million interactions at a time when face to face gatherings could not take place. Visits to the Warhammer community website were up by 16% on the previous year, while social media engagement was 25% ahead, its email openings were 18% up, and subscribers are now approaching 600,000. Overall, it had the best year yet for engagement and online sales weve ever had. It is currently scoping out a website upgrade, with improved navigation and personalised content.

However, Games Workshop stores had to close in repeated Covid-19 lockdowns and it has also experienced delivery delays for its physical products during the year. Its warehouses suffered capacity constraints as manufacturing volumes grew while deliveries to Europe were affected as a result of Brexit. It expanded its customer service team in order to meet the needs of the customers who were affected, and issued refunds worth 1.2m to European customers. In summer 2020, it partly opened a new East Midlands Gateway warehouse, reducing its reliance on third party warehousing although it says that its interim warehouse management solution is far from optimal.

Games Workshop today reported revenue of 353.2m in the year to May 30. Thats 31% up on the previous year. Pre-tax profits of 150.9m were up by 69%.

Kevin Rountree, chief executive of Games Workshop, says: After a tough year we are delighted that the Warhammer hobby and Games Workshop are in great shape; thanks to everyone involved and thanks to everyone that continues to keep us safe and well.

The fantasy gaming business designs, makes and sells its own Warhammer fantasy miniatures and related products in Nottingham, which it sells online, through trade partners and through its own shops 523 at year end and distributes from its Nottingham warehouses, as well as via hubs in the US and Australia.

Its miniatures are supported by stories from the Warhammer universe, released as novels, audio books, short stories and audio dramas both in bookshops, its own stores and online. Long-term it aims to keep growing its online, retail and trade businesses in harmony, as it takes its business into new markets.

Games Workshop says its exports to the EU have been affected by Brexit. It says: The movement of goods from the UK to the EU across all sales channels has faced significant disruption. We again acknowledge that unfortunately delivery service to our Continental European customers was well below expectations during the opening months of 2021. As a result of the disruption it has issued refunds totally 1.2m over the period. Now it says it has a reliable cross border service up and running and it is strengthening its logistics team by adding resources within its markets in order to support international growth.

It adds: The recruitment and retention of EU nationals working in the UK has, as you would expect, not been plain sailing this year either. Our EU trade team is based in Nottingham and during the year we never really had a full team. The team we did have though are an engaging, international bunch who tackled the year with their usual lively style.

Games Workshop is a Top500 retailer in RXUK Top500 research.

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Games Workshop prospers through digital but physical sales and operations hit by Covid and Brexit - InternetRetailing

A leading North East business group has urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to acknowledge that his Brexit deal is causing major difficulties for firms in the region.

The North East England Chamber of Commerce has written to Mr Johnson to say that Brexit has led to a drop in exports as well as difficulties such as shortage of HGV drivers and increased costs related to added bureaucracy.

The Chamber fears Ministers could further damage businesses in the region by seeking free trade deals elsewhere around the world that diverge too far from EU regulations and make it difficult to trade with our nearest neighbours.

Read more:'EU workers have left and aren't returning'

Its letter comes after a poll of members found 75% of exporters said Brexit had had either a negative, or very negative impact on their companies. Meanwhile, official figures earlier this month showed that exports from the North East to Europe had fallen 11% in the first three months of the year.

In the letter, Chamber chief executive James Ramsbotham said that the issued faced by businesses are wide-ranging and complex and cannot be dismissed as teething problems.

He said: This large range of different issues means that there is, unfortunately, no single simple solution.

Businesses have felt unsupported through this period of hardship by their Government and, in many cases, feel that Government is unwilling to even acknowledge that these hardships exist.

The concerning findings of our survey resonated with regional trade data, recently released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In Quarter 1 of 2021 the first quarter under the new trading arrangements North East goods exports to the European Union fell by 13.2%, or 264m, while imports fell by an even greater 22.4%, or 461m, when compared to the final quarter of 2020.

The respective figures for non-EU exports and imports were 7.8% and 6.2% falls. The disproportionately large fall in trade between the North East and the EU, compared to trade with non-EU nations, makes it incredibly difficult to see past EU Exit as the primary driver behind this fall, rather than the pandemic and its associated restrictions on economic activity.

Mr Ramsbotham added that North East businesses would be crucial to the Governments levelling up ambitions, and called on the Government to take ownership of the Brexit deal and address the problems it has caused.

Downing Street has been contacted for comment.

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North East business leaders call on PM to 'take ownership' of Brexit problems - Business Live

The United Kingdom has to rebuild its relationship with the European Union and the EU with the UK. This is not just about trade or security, though those are two of the key elements. It is about common sense. It is in the self-interest of both sides to have a decent working relationship, rather than see these distressing squabbles running on and on. So how to bring common sense back?

The ideas of Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, are a good starting point. In an interview with the Financial Times she said that Boris Johnson had a blind spot when it came to bolstering relations with Brussels. Actually it is worst than that. It plays to his political base to attack the EU whenever possible, blaming any bad outcomes of the separation agreement on Europes intransigence and legalism. It is not so much a blind spot. More a clear-eyed calculation of where his domestic political advantage lies.

This is not to say that Europe is blameless. As we saw earlier this year over the vaccine spat, the Brussels bureaucracy can behave in an aggressive and legalistic way. Its case against AstraZeneca for delivery shortfalls was rejected by the Court of First Instance in Brussels, but it is pretty clear that this row, and the other attacks on AstraZeneca, undermined confidence in the vaccine and slowed the take-up in Europe.

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Britain has to rebuild its working relationship with the EU it is common sense | Hamish McRae - The Independent

Fernandes Anjo has been considering recently what she can do to maintain her American base, but also claw back her European customers, and the solution, she believes, is in having wholesale retailers on each continent (her British wholesale partner is Selfridges). My long term plan is to keep the ethos of Roop here in the UK, but to have wholesalers in Europe and America, so that people can still buy from me and they dont lose any of the brand story, but its more readily available to them wherever they are, she says.

Due to increased courier costs, though, it now costs both Longe and Ciss, whose businesses are both direct-to-consumer, the same amount to send deliveries to America as it does to send to Europe, meaning both of them plan on moving their headquarters out of London in the foreseeable future.

For as long as I can, Im going to put off moving my headquarters, but eventually elements of it will have to move, Ciss says. Its kind of like starting my business all over again, because Ive lost all of the European customers that I worked so hard to get. Theres a lot of work to be done on gaining back my old customer base and re-introducing the brand to people.

Rush, though, who has worked in tandem with the government to advocate on behalf of the fashion industry, is clear on the progress thats been made. There is still a lot of work to be done, especially in an industry that is focused on achieving positive change, she states. Unfortunately, the challenges of Brexit didnt happen in a vacuum businesses have also had to deal with the additional impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, but what is important, now more than ever, is that our European and international friends remember that the UK is still open, despite Brexit.

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Small fashion brand founders on the impact of Brexit 2021 - Stylist Magazine

Speaking to the think tank Policy Exchange, the Secretary of State for International Trade explained how negotiations are going well to secure the post-Brexit deal expected next year. In a discussion with former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and veteran journalist Charles Moore, Liz Truss added how the move will see the UK take part in a free-trade area worth nine-trillion pounds as Britain takes on a more "offensive position" with its trade ambitions.

Liz Truss told the Policy Exchange panel: Australia was a very positive move forward, it was our first from scratch post-Brexit trade deal.

We have moved from quite a defensive position on trade to a much more offensive position.

Pushing very hard on UK areas of interest like digital services, mobility - we are the second-largest services exporter in the world

We have a huge opportunity, not just with Australia and New Zealand which we are also negotiating at the moment."

JUST INEU not listening! Frost rejects Brussels' Brexit compromise offer 'Not addressed issue'

She added: But with the entry to the Trans-Pacific Partnership... that is a nine trillion pound area that the UK is poised to join!

Ms Truss confirmed how those negotiations are going well and that they should conclude next year (2022).

The Trade Secretary added how that deal will be a huge step forward for the United Kingdom as it pursues life outside of the bloc.

She also added how the UK is also not planning on leaving the relationship with the USA behind either.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) which stands for Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership is a free-trade partnership of eleven countries in the Pacific region of the world.

Its members include Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia,Mexico,New Zealand,Peru,Singapore, andVietnam.

The Partnership makes up 13.4 percent of global GDP making it one of the biggest free-trade regions in the world and a major centre for global trade.

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Take that EU! Brexit Britain on track to strike multi-billion CPTTP agreement by 2022 - Daily Express

Fruit and vegetables are being left to rot in England as Brexit deters migrants from taking up picking jobs.

Farmers have told Euronews that restrictions to freedom of movement have had a "devastating" impact.

Brexit -- the effects of which kicked-in at the start of the year -- means hiring migrant pickers from eastern Europe is now much harder.

Barfoots of Botley, a farming company based on England's south coast near Bognor Regis, said 750,000 courgettes were being left to rot.

They say that's because they cant get the staff and if the situation continues it will force them to make difficult decisions about their future.

Restricting free movement has had a devasting impact," said managing director Julian Marks. "But not just on agriculture and horticulture on pretty much every sector where people from abroad have been working in those sectors for years and now. Theyre going home."

Marks said as a consequence the firm is struggling to fulfil the demands of the supermarkets. He thinks it's inevitable either shelves will be left empty or the likes of Sainsbury's and Tescos will turn to EU imports to fill the gaps.

He added it was "tragic" and "demoralising" to see so many vegetables go to waste, saying the situation is worse than expected.

It's a sentiment echoed by Mark Knight, technical crops manager at Tangmere Airfield Nurseries, the largest farm of its kind in the UK. He told Euronews the extent to which migrants had stayed away had taken him by surprise.

The farm's general manager, Gerrard Vonk, said they had relied on seasonal pickers from Eastern Europe for 33 years.

But since Brexit, there are "more barriers, more red tape and much more difficulty to actually come and work over here."

Vonk said he had 72 fewer workers than last year and, as a consequence of the shortages, crops are being left to over-ripen rather than be harvested.

Both Knight and Vonk think the root cause is Brexit, rather than COVID-related travel restrictions. They say Europeans do not feel at home in the UK and they are urging the government to launch a PR campaign to invite them to return.

Boris Johnson's government has launched a PR drive -- but that was last year and aimed at getting Britons to help harvest crops.

Called Pick for Britain, it was aimed at encouraging those left unemployed by the pandemic to fill the gap left by migrant workers.

But one agency, Pro-Force, said of the 450 UK-based workers it placed under the scheme, just 4 per cent were still in their roles by the end of the season.

"Common feedback from the British nationals placed by Pro-Force was that many of them wanted to 'do their bit' at time of national crisis but did not see this as a long term, viable option to provide the labour the industry needs in 2021 and beyond," said James Mallick from Pro-Force in written evidence to a parliamentary committee.

Euronews contacted the UK government to respond to criticism in this article but had not received a response by the time of publication.

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'Devastating': Crops left to rot in England as Brexit begins to bite - Euronews

The Brexiteers who forecast a clean break with the European Union underestimated many key issues

The British referendum five years ago was supposed to settle the United Kingdoms historical love-hate relationship with Europe, but while the full consequences of Brexit will not be analysed for decades, the U.K. remains as divided as ever, and the way people voted in 2016 forms a large part of their identity. The referendum dominates British politics as the most significant event since the Second World War, resulting in two general elections, ousting two premiers and threatening the political geography of the U.K.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson needed a rapid departure from the European Union (EU), and the Withdrawal and Trade and Cooperation Agreements of December 2020 were rushed through. Problems were soon apparent. The U.K. imports 70% of the fish it consumes; the industry only contributes 0.12% of GDP and employs 0.1% of the workforce, but has political traction. In May, after 60 French fishing boats massed to blockade Jersey over fishing rights, naval units from both Britain and France deployed off Jersey, a farcical reminder of the loose ends of Britains exit from the EU.

Northern Ireland, part of the U.K. but in the EUs single market, and therefore obliged to follow EU rules, is another case in point. The EUs external border would be in the Irish Sea between Britain and Northern Ireland, and goods for Northern Ireland would need to be inspected there, which is politically untenable for the U.K. The alternative would be that the EU would itself impose inspections to protect its single market and structure a border either on the island of Ireland or between Ireland and the EU, which are both equally unfeasible.

Tensions predictably arose between Britain and the EU over the import of chilled meat products from Britain to Northern Ireland, with Britain seeking an extension of the transition arrangements from June 30 by three months. No one believes that this can be a lasting solution. It seems Britain is questioning Brexit agreements rather than following them, while boasting about its COVID-19immunisation compared to the EU and the success of the City of London in maintaining its status against hostile EU legislation and incentives for banks to move to European capitals. To supporters of Brexit, it looked as if the EU wanted to punish Britain for leaving, if only to discourage its other members from doing the same. Thus, after membership of the EU for almost 50 years, mutual trust is lacking, and two versions of a rules-based order are colliding. This was apparent during the G-7 summit, when bilateral meetings between Mr. Johnson and EU leaders lacked warmth. The EU conceded the Northern Ireland postponement and persuaded its member States, especially France and Germany that are losing patience with Britain, to avoid a trade war over British sausages. Such recriminations may become a permanent feature of U.K.-EU relations as a small nation plays a poor hand against the worlds largest trading bloc while seeking trade deals with distant countries, which even official forecasts suggest will produce negligible benefits.

In Scotland, the National Party, which seeks an exit from the U.K., has grown in popularity since the Brexit vote. Scots voted in the referendum by 62% against 38% to remain in the EU, but were dragged out by the overall result. For many Scots, leaving the U.K. is the clearest path back to the EU, and anticipate that among other benefits, the EU will grant Scotland least developed status and subventions on the scale enjoyed by the Irish Republic. This is as much an anti-Westminster stance as an effort to join the EU since the chances of an independent Scotland jumping the queue of EU applicants and of all member States approving Scottish membership are not great. Nevertheless, the prospect of a break-up of the United Kingdom is of grave concern to London. Meanwhile, a vote on reunification in Ireland seems more probable now than at any time since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 which brought an uneasy peace to fratricidal factions in the North.

The International Monetary Fund warned that the British economy faced a 10% GDP decline in 2020 In first quarter 2021, food and drink exports to the EU declined by nearly 50% and export of services also shrank. At least 500 British companies have relocated to Europe. The Brexiteers who forecast a clean break with the EU either underestimated or ignored the practical inconveniences of leaving, including the vast paperwork involved in exporting and importing with the EU, but the success of British COVID-19 vaccination compared with the EUs bungled efforts has enabled Brexiteers to claw back some ground.

In sum, most people have accepted Brexit though few are satisfied with the divorce settlement. No version of Brexit will satisfy everyone, and it has left the United Kingdom less united.

Krishnan Srinivasan is a former Foreign Secretary. Julius Fein is a British historian

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Five years later, Brexit continues to divide - The Hindu

The second Record Store Day (RSD) of 2021 arrives on Saturday, following an event on 12 June. A multitude of special-edition records will be divided up between some 200 independent shops in the UK, and the event will drive much-needed revenue after more than a year of no live music and frequently shuttered shops. There is, however, an accelerating crisis behind the scenes. The BPI in the UK reported 4.8m LP sales in 2020, the formats 13th consecutive year of growth, but the vinyl revival of recent years is now under threat.

Vinyl pressing plants are struggling to meet demand, and well-funded labels are trying to jump the queue. There is a global PVC shortage, and Brexit brings its own problems. Jeff Bell of Partisan Records home to Idles, Laura Marling and Fontaines DC describes the scale of the problem: The demand for vinyl globally is between two and three times what supply can keep up with.

Karen Emanuel, chief executive of manufacturing company Key Production Group, which deals with pressing plants on behalf of labels, says that lead times for vinyl manufacturing keep shooting up. When she started in the sector, more than 30 years ago, it would typically take three weeks to produce and ship vinyl albums, and as little as 48 hours for singles. Four years ago, that process took three months and no one thought it could get worse. Most of the plants now are working on six months, she sighs.

According to Drew Hill, head of Proper Music Distribution, which offers sales, marketing and distribution for labels and artists, lead times can be double that for special releases, such as the limited-edition records that punters queue up for on RSD. As RSD records have to be pitched to its organisers for approval first, he reports that labels are being told to book in their RSD releases for next year now. Things are going to have to change about the way that we promote, market and sell records, he says.

Many RSD releases use eye-catching coloured vinyl but its a lot slower than black vinyl [to make] because you have to clean the machines each time you change colours, explains Emanuel. And as with toilet rolls and pasta in the early stages of the pandemic, there is now panic buying of vinyl by labels. Everyone is doubling or tripling their orders so they wont be out of stock, says Bell. That is congesting the pipeline.

There are other components to the crisis. First is the small number of active factories, a legacy problem from the 1990s, when many labels pulled out of vinyl production. As pressing plants closed or streamlined, experienced staff left the industry, and a recruitment lag means there are not enough qualified people to go around. These are skilled operators that need to be brought back, says Bell. [Vinyl production] is a craft and a science, a specialised skill set.

As the major labels joined the vinyl gold rush over the past decade, they initially focused on reissuing classic albums, but now they are also putting new releases on vinyl to help boost chart positions. Blockbuster records from acts such as the Killers, Haim and the 1975, which were initially delayed in the early stages of the pandemic, contributed to a logjam. Some plants remain hesitant to make the huge investment required to add new presses and warehousing, worrying that this current boom may prove temporary. Its something a lot of companies arent willing to do until they know this supply and demand dynamic is going to go on for a lot more years, says Bell.

Social distancing means plants have had to reduce the number of staff on production lines. And the irony is that fans, wanting to support struggling acts through the pandemic, have been buying more records, thereby exacerbating production complications that are also worsened by the shortage of PVC, the raw material for vinyl records. The construction industry, the car industry, everywhere is having a problem with a PVC shortage, explains Emanuel.

Artists such as rising jazz star Emma-Jean Thackray and at least one A-list pop star, according to a source at their label, have all recently postponed album releases because of production issues. Stories abound of labels offering big orders but demanding to jump the queue. One anonymous label source, when asked about this, replies, Id like to say its not the case leaving the rest of the sentence hanging. They add, however, that some factories refuse to kowtow.

Brexit has caused complications with bringing back orders to the UK after theyve been pressed in mainland Europe, with Emanuel recounting horror stories of things that just disappeared in transit. She adds that post-Brexit VAT is the real hidden threat for many UK labels. If they are VAT-registered at home but, say, pressing in Germany and using distributors in France, they get hit by VAT that they wouldnt have been hit with before, when the UK was in a VAT union with the rest of the EU.

Everyone admits over-demand is a nice problem to have, as it shows people, especially younger consumers, want to buy physical product. But even new factories willing to take the gamble might take a year or more to become fully operational. Plants switching to injection moulding may speed up production slightly, but until then vinyl sales so critical to chart performance and artist income are going to be badly compromised.

We are going to see an increase in split-format releases where an album comes out digitally, but physically wont be available for months, Bell says. This tactic has seen artists such as Taylor Swift and Bring Me the Horizon return to the top of the charts when their vinyl editions become available, but Bell says that less famous musicians will be the ones left out of the vinyl revival. Its going to inhibit early sales that used to give young artists a leg up, he says.

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Pressing issues: vinyl revival held back by production capacity, Brexit and more - The Guardian

Lisa Nandy says she is getting hot under the collar. Labours shadow foreign secretary has circled back to a question of how someone who wants to rejoin the EU should vote at the next election.

Ms Nandy has already said that she believes Brexit has been settled for a generation and that it would be really irresponsible for Labour to campaign on a promise to reopen negotiations with the EU.

But the paper-thin deal is the floor not the ceiling of the UKs relationship with the EU, she says, and the Labour Party would deepen cooperation particularly over security, she adds.

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She returns the question thats been playing on my mind with an attack on the political culture that reduces complex issues to a binary choice and uses the consequent division as a distraction and evasion of responsibility.

Having the referendum that descends into this very binary, very angry, very partisan argument afterwards, allowed politicians to stop the real question which is, how do we forge better closer cooperation that doesnt just deliver for people around the world but delivers for people in our own countries, as well.

The core of Ms Nandys argument is that the country post Brexit, post pandemic needs like never before to recover a national ability to blend the individual in the collective and maximise common ground.

So many of the problems that weve created in this country weve created because we sit in rooms like this, having artificial conversations about people rather than with them

I dont think the voters are half as divided as people think I dont think the country is half as divided as people think. Im getting a bit hot under the collar but I just feel that so many of the problems that weve created in this country weve created because we sit in rooms like this, having artificial conversations about people rather than with them.

She quotes George Orwells phrase of an England only just below the surface to evoke this national spirit temporarily hidden underneath the rubble of a succession of divisive referenda (although its worth noting Orwell uses it immediately after a call to break the grip of the monied class.)

Expanding the notion to include the rest of the UK, Nandy says it found expression in Danny Boyles celebration of the NHS in the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony and hears echoes in Gareth Southgates stewardship of the England team.

She also compares the England football team managers quiet and principled leadership to that of US President Joe Biden. Both succeeded in defending positions on issues such as Black Lives Matter without allowing them to derail their central mission.

There is a there is a connection between Gareth Southgate and Joe Biden, which is that both of them very comfortable in their own skin, very sure in their own beliefs, but absolutely determined not to be knocked off course and diverted from their absolute core task.

She admits that the Tories were quicker to understand the specific set of issues of concern to towns predominantly in the Midlands and North now weaponised as Johnsons levelling up agenda than her own party. That saddens me.

She had promised to move Labour HQ to Warrington if she won the leadership. Although it remains firmly in central London she says shes heartened by David Evans, Labours general secretary, to devolve power she says could help local parties prove they can make a difference.

Look around Wigan in every local library youll see somebody running a credit union, youll see people collecting food for the food bank, you know, dropping off, picking up. You see all sorts of that going on around the town, and every single one of those groups is run by somebody in the Labour Party, but its not happening under a Labour banner.

So if we start to put our organising capacity behind that, and that can only happen at a very local level, then that could be a game changer for Labour. [We] will have a story to tell about the change that Labour delivers in the next election.

In the end, not enough Labour members signed up to Ms Nandys vision to beat Sir Keir Starmer last year. She says there were reasonably close and friends until Labour MPs started to fracture under the twin forces of Brexit and anti-Semitism.

Some like Ms Nandy refused to continue to serve under Jeremy Corbyn because of his failure to deal with issue of anti-Semitism among a toxic minority of Labour members others like Sir Keir chose to work from within.

Ms Nandy was among the first to warn that Brexit was a rock that was going to break Labours electoral coalition and urged her colleagues to accept the vote, Sir Keir Starmer persuaded Mr Corbyn to offer a second referendum.

She says she has a decent relationship with the leader now. The Shadow Foreign Secretary is not uncritical of her partys campaigning efforts, however. She said she was surprised that it used a picture of Boris Johnson shaking hands with Indias PM Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, in an apparent attempt to motivate Muslim voters of Pakistani heritage in Batley and Spen.

She dismisses claims she would have challenged Sir Keir had Labour lost the Batley and Spen by-election. Although she insists she hated taking part in the leadership election, she remains the subject of speculation.

And if Sir Keirs decision to hand his defeated rival the foreign affairs job was motivated in part by a desire to keep her away from domestic affairs its failed: she brings most questions back to the concerns of her Wigan constituents.

Shes working on a book due out next year. I think, in the last few years, Labour has proven itself very good at fighting the last battle, and not looking at the challenge thats in front of us, weve got to start focusing on the future.

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Lisa Nandy: I dont think the country is half as divided over Brexit as people think - iNews