Category Archives: Brexit

Spain is to deploy 500 more police at airports across the country in an attempt to shorten passport queues at the peak of the tourism season.

The country, like Britain and other destinations, has been hit by lengthy delays, as passengers try to pass. through passport control, but Brexit issues have made the problem particularly acute for Britons, who must now have their documents stamped on entry to the country.

Madrid, Barcelona, Palma in Mallorca, Ibiza, Alicante, Tenerife and Malaga are among the busiest airports where extra officers will be stationed, police sources said.

Labour disputes and staffing shortages have left European airports desperate to find more workers before the summer holidays reach their peak.

Airlines have been forced to cancel dozens of flights as they struggle to operate on a skeleton staff.

Workers at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris are striking on Thursday for more pay with a quarter of flights cancelled.

In Italy, crews from budget carriers Ryanair, easyJet and Volotea walked off the job on Wednesday.

On Wednesday evening, German airline Lufthansa and its subsidiary Eurowings said they were scrapping 1,000 flights in July or 5 per cent of their planned weekend capacity because of staff shortages during one of the busiest periods of the year.

Ryanair cabin crew could strike in Europe this summer after a failure to reach a deal in talks with two Spanish airlines, according to statements from the Spanish trade unions SITCPLA and USO.

Airport managers are struggling to quickly recruit staff and train these new workers amid a huge rebound in air travel after a slump during the pandemic.

Congestion at airports has been blamed on the failure of airlines and airport authorities to take on enough new staff as tourism returned in force after the pandemic.

Airlines, which were losing millions of pounds every day during the pandemic, are depending on a strong summer as fares rise to offset fuel costs.

Some countries, like Spain, Italy and Greece, are banking on tourism to revive hard-hit economies.

In Spain, Iberia Airlines said that 15,000 people had missed their flights at Madrid airport on Monday because of queues lasting up to 40 minutes to get through passport control.

The Spanish Interior Ministry, which is responsible for managing passport control because police check national identity papers, denied this claim, saying it had no knowledge that this number of 15,000 people had missed their flights.

In 2019, a record 18 million Britons travelled to Spain Britains favourite tourist destination but diplomatic sources told i that British authorities are expecting that more holidaymakers will spend time in the country this summer.

However, the difference this time around is that British travellers will have to join the non-EU queues at airports and must have their passports stamped, as tourists can only stay in Spain for 90 out of every 180 days.

This has led to lengthy queues at Madrid Barajas and other airports around the country.

At Barcelona Airport, passengers flying to the United States told La Vanguardia newspaper that they had had to wait for three hours to pass through passport control.

This could have a knock-on effect for British holidaymakers as they must join the same queues as Americans and all other non-EU nationals.

Only Britons who are residents in Spain do not have their passports stamped but still have to join the non-EU queue at the airport.

Despite the extra reinforcements, Jusapol, one of the police unions, said that 500 more officers would not be enough to cope with the huge number of passengers.

Summer is here and there will be a rise in passengers who will take longer to get through the passport and other controls at the airports, said a spokesman for Jusapol.

Javier Gndara, president of the Association of Airlines, has called on the Spanish government to reinforce the passport controls still further.

Tourism organisations were concerned that chaos at airports will damage the image of a sector which accounts for 12 per cent of Spains GDP and was devastated by the pandemic.

Miguel Mirones, president of the Association for Quality Tourism, told i : We cannot allow problems in the management of airport infrastructure to damage the recuperation of tourism demand. We must solve this problem as soon as possible.

Spains government has tried to calm fears of more holiday chaos at airports.

Everything is planned for and Brexit will not be a setback. There is no need for more officers to be deployed, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.

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Spain scrambles to tackle massive airport queues as post-Brexit passport stamping adds to woes - iNews

THE SNP has blamed the UK Government for causing travel chaos by failing to plug the Brexit labour shortage.

Travel expert Simon Calder has said the travel chaos at airports such as Glasgow and Edinburghis largely due to the significant staff shortages that were created when many Europeans left the UK - and its aviation industry -after the UK left the EU.

Yet just days ago the UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps rejected a request by the aviation industry to allow them to recruit workers from overseasandblamed the sector for the current issues.

This week, travel experts issued fresh warnings that the chaos could last up to 18 months.

SNP MP Gavin Newlands, the party's transport spokesperson at Westminster,said the only way to protect Scotland's travel industry is through gaining independence.

He said: It is the height of arrogance for the UK Tory Government to blame the aviation industry for issues it largely caused with its disastrous Brexit deal and issues which they were warned about.

Gavin Newlands MP

Unions said in January that this would happenand the SNP has been warning of this exact scenario for more thantwo years, but the UK Government refused to listen.

The UK Government has had multiple opportunities to take action to plug the labour shortages it created and it has refused to do so at every turn, with the rejection of the aviation industrys request to grant special immigration visas for overseas workers being the latest in a long list.

READ MORE:Everything you need to know about the AUOB Dumfries independence rally

It is clearthe Westminster Government wont take the action needed to support our vital travel industry.

"Independence is the only route back to the EU and vital labour for Scotland, and the only way to protect our travel industry.

As many people head abroad for the first time since the pandemic,airports across the UK have seen significant delays to check-in and baggage reclaim areas.

Edinburgh Airportissued a warning to passengers last week about longer than normal queues at securitybut has this week reported it is "flowing well".

On Twitter, Edinburgh Airport said on Friday morning: "As of a few minutes ago, the time to get through security from first joining the queue was 1-20 minutes.

"Security is flowing well, but please remember to prepare in advance."

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SNP blame Brexit and UK Government for travel chaos - The National

Reader Question: I am going to visit my family in England this summer. Could you please tell me what food products I am allowed to take? I used to take cheese - am I still able to do so?

The UK government website states that there are no restrictions on bringing food products such as:

into the UK from any country in the world, so you need not worry if you were planning to pack any of these items.

There are restrictions on bringing in fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and dairy products from abroad, but these are fairly relaxed with regards to EU countries.

If travelling from an EU member state, it is possible to bring meat, dairy, fish and other animal products such as eggs and honey into the UK for personal use.

These items are free from customs duties and VAT as long as their value is less than 390 per adult.

Therefore, you should have no problem taking cheese to the UK as long as it is worth less than 390!

If you bring a banned food product into the UK but declare it to Border Force officers, they will simply take it away and destroy it.

You should also declare a product if you think you have carried too much of it into the country.

If you fail to declare it, the government states that you could be prosecuted.

EU restrictions on transporting food products are stricter, and travellers are not allowed to carry any meat, animal-derived or dairy products. Therefore, taking cheese back into France from the UK would not be permitted.

You are, however, allowed to carry most processed, canned and sealed foods as long as they do not contain animal products, powdered baby milk and baby food, small quantities of honey and eggs, bananas, coconuts, pineapples, dates and other fruit and vegetables for personal consumption only.

Medicines and prescription drugs are also allowed for personal use.

Applying for returned goods relief to take items from France to UK

What are post-Brexit rules for moving items from a French house to UK?

Recap of post-Brexit rules for bringing items into France from the UK

Brexit: Taking French cheese and wine to the UK

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Can I take cheese from France to the UK post-Brexit? - The Connexion

9 June 2022, 14:53

The UK is lagging behind European counterparts in terms of growth because of Brexit, the Director of Tax Research UK tells Nick Ferrari.

The UK is second only to Russia in an OECD growth forecast for 2023. The report predicts that Britain will have a 0% growth rate for next year.

"The OECD is being rather optimistic", Professor Richard Murphy told Nick Ferrari, adding that the predictions for 2022 are already way off.

Read more: Boris vows 'cost of living crisis will get better' despite expert's dire economic forecast

"There's no sign we're going to get 3.6% this year" he said, fearing that a 0% growth rate may come in 2022 and 2023 "might be worse rather than better than that".

Professor Murphy referenced the "peculiar problems the UK has" as factors in the lack of growth. When quizzed by Nick, he noted that Brexit is the primary issue.

"This week we've seen data that's shown only two regions of the UK have grown since 2019 they are London unsurprisingly, perhaps, and Northern Ireland."

Read more: Starmer: Labour will 'make Brexit work' with 'better deal' with EU

Read more: 'UK not copying EU on USB-C chargers is just the latest way Brexit will screw consumers'

Read more: Plans to tear up NI post-Brexit deal 'won't get through Lords', says former justice sec

He went on: "There's only one explanation for Northern Ireland growing when everyone else isn't which is of course that it's still in the single market."

"We have literally shot ourselves in the foot with Brexit" the head of Tax Research UK declared. "Like it or not politically, this is an economic fact."

Nick wondered how the UK is comparing to our European neighbours. Professor Murphy said that most of the EU is averaging between two and three percent growth.

"We are way behind the pack."

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'We literally shot ourselves in the foot with Brexit', tax expert tells LBC - LBC

OPINION Brexit buggered Britain celebrates the Queen

Andrew Donaldson |

08 June 2022

Andrew Donaldson says that nostalgia is a fascinating narcotic

A FAMOUS GROUSE

NOSTALGIA, it is so often said, is not what it used to be. But after the Platinum Jubilee weekend, it certainly seems a bitweirder. This was a deep wallow in yesteryear that demanded the suspension of critical faculties. Reality itself appeared to suffocate under the weight of purple cushions, bunting, new-fangled trifle, corgi orgies, crocheted crowns, star-studded variety concerts and, to top it all, that bear,Paddington.

The Guardians sketch writer, John Crace,nailed itwhen he suggested this wasnt a country celebrating its monarch so much as one making a virtue of its own collective psychosis. Commenting on the TV coverage of Sundays events, Crace said: We were repeatedly told that everyone in the Commonwealth loved Britain and the Queen. At no time did anyone attempt to address Britains difficult history of empire. This was a white-washed island story. One for the biscuit tins.

As a republican, I should add, I have spent the past week resolutelyunbuntedno Union Jacks fluttering herebut this is not to suggest indifference on my part to that collective psychosis; nostalgia, after all, is a fascinating narcotic.

As it happened, it was Brenda, asPrivate Eyefirst referred to the Queen more than 50 years ago, who appeared to offer an invitation for a retrospective trawl through her 70-year reign. As the weekend approached, wed hear Maam on several occasions on the telly recalling advice shed received from Winston Churchill, her first prime minister: The further backward you look, the further forward you can see.___STEADY_PAYWALL___

In HMs case, there is a lot to look back on. Thirteen prime ministers followed Churchill: Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, James Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson. There may even be another one quite soon. But that is a matter for another day; this is about the old stuff.

At the time of her coronation, in June 1953, there was a suggestion that the young queen was about to lead Britain into the sort of gilded era associated with an illustrious predecessor with the same name. Clement Attlee, the Labour leader and Churchills predecessor as PM, put it thus: It is our hope that Her Majesty may live long and happily and that her reign may be as glorious as that of her great predecessor Queen Elizabeth I. Let us hope we are witnessing the beginning of a new Elizabethan Age no less renowned than the first.

The big difference here is that the first laid the foundations of an empire, while the second presided over its swift dismantling four centuries later. There was much that would be let go. Mark Twainsaccountof HMs great-great-grandmothers diamond jubilee celebrations (Following the Equator, 1897) includes this pithy summation of the Victorian eras imperial acquisitiveness:

Great Britain has added to her real estate an average of 165 miles of territory per day for the past sixty years, which is to say she hasadded more than the bulk of an England proper each year, oran aggregate of seventy Englands in the sixty years.

Twain was so bowled over by the scale of the pageantry of the jubilee parade that passed before dumpy Victoria in the Strand that he gave up the idea of describing it in words. It was to be a spectacle, the American wrote, for the Kodak, not the pen. Still, he had a bash at it. Representatives of all the worlds nations, he said, seemed to be represented: Africans, Indians, Chinese, Pacific islanders they were all there, and with them samples of all the whites that inhabit the wide reach ofthe Queens dominions.

There were notable exceptions, Twain felt. Cecil Rhodes was not in the procession; the charteredcompany was absent from it. Nobody was there to collect their share of the glory due for their formidable contributions to theImperial estate. Even Dr Jameson was out, and yet he triedso hard to accumulate territory That immense new industry,speculative expansion, was not represented, unless the patheticshade of Barnato rode invisible in the pageant.

Its worth noting that the mining magnate Barney Barnato had perished at sea on June 14, 1897, eight days before Victorias jubilee parade. Twain, who had visited South Africa in 1896, declaring its politics as an inextricable tangle, was scathing in hisassessmentof Rhodes:

He raids and robs and slays and enslaves the Matabele and gets worlds of Charter-Christian applause for it there he stands, to this day, upon his dizzy summit under the dome of the sky, an apparent permanency, the marvel of the time, the mystery of the age, an Archangel with wings to half the world, Satan with a tail to the other half. I admire him, I frankly confess it; and when his time comes I shall buy a piece of the rope for a keepsake.

Between 1945 and 1965, the number of those who lived under colonial rule as a result of the actions of men like Rhodes fell from 700 million to just five million. However, as empire crumbled, the Commonwealth flourished. As the head of the 54-nation body, comprising of mostly former British colonies, the Queen has been tireless in promoting the organisation and its relevance in international affairs.

This has not been easy, and over the years shes hosted some proper dirtbags, whether from the Commonwealth or further afield: Robert Mugabe, Ugandas Yoweri Museveni, Xi Jinping, Syrias Bashar Al-Assad, Vladimir Putin, Romanias Nicolae Ceausescu, Donald Trump, Zaires Mobutu Sese Seko, Indonesias General Suharto, Kazakhstans Nursultan Nazarbayev the list is a long one.

One favoured anecdote concerns the state visit by the Nigerian military leader Yakubu Gowon shortly before the 1975 coup that toppled him. It seems that, as HM and her guest shared an open coach ride in the Mall, one of the horses broke wind, engulfing the coach in a malodorous stench. Sensing Gowons discomfort, the Queen apologised profusely. Thats perfectly all right, Your Majesty, Gowon replied. I thought it was one of the horses.

There were the visits by South Africans. When Thabo Mbeki led a delegation to the UK in May 2000, I blithely suggested to colleagues in the media that they approach the Palace with inquiries about missing teaspoons and other items of silverware. However, I was assured that the then health minister, the late Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, was not travelling with the president.

I was genuinely baffled when Jacob Zuma cracked the nod in March 2010, and wondered whether Accused Number One had been invited to Buckingham Palace solely at the behest of Prince Philip, the Queens late husband. After all, the Duke of Edinburghs amused fascination with the exotic is legendary.

The ANC wasapparently enragedthat the British press were not suitably deferential in reporting on the visit. Butternut, described by one newspaper as a sex-obsessed bigot and a vile buffoon, complained to theStarthat he was fed up with being judged and sneered at by a country with a hypocritical attitude towards its former colonies.

It was different, of course, with Nelson Mandela. The Queen and Madiba wound up on first-name terms. She calls me Nelson so I call her Elizabeth, he said of their relationship. But their first meeting wasreportedlyquite awkward. Mandela had apparently gatecrashed a Commonwealth meeting hosted by HM in Zimbabwe in 1991, at a time when the British government still viewed the ANC as a terrorist organisation. The Queen made light of the situation, thereby avoiding what could have been a diplomatic disaster, according to a Channel 5 documentary.

Nostalgia is by definition a fundamentally anti-progressive phenomenon, one that has been on the rise in recent years. The belief that the past was a better place is profoundly nationalistic, and is the very stuff of populism. It was the force behind the invasion of Ukraine, a yearning for the past glories of the Soviet Union.

It drove Trumps campaign to make America great again. In South Africa, we see it in claims of those who insist life was better under apartheid, and we see it in those revolutionaries who yearn for a return to the Struggle, that fabled era that was betrayed and disappeared with the drawing up of the Constitution.

The survival of the monarchy depends on such nostalgia. Brexit-buggered Britain, now a plucky island nation facing extraordinary odds once more, thrives on it. But, elsewhere, the schtick is wearing thin. As Elizabeth IIs reign draws to a close, questions on the Commonwealths future arise.

Wealthier members, like Canada and New Zealand, still retain the Queen as their head of state. However, the new Australian PM, Anthony Albanese, has announced that he intends severing ties with the Crown and making his country a republic. This follows indications by at least six Caribbean member states that they plan on removing the Queen as their sovereign after Barbados became a republic last year.

Removing Brenda from your postage stamps and currency does not however amount to a departure from the Commonwealth, which is after all an organisation in which the worlds smaller countries can make their presence felt. In 2018, Prince Charles was appointed his mothers designated successor as the head of the organisation. Its not going to be easy, following in her footsteps, and there may be a yearning for the good old days when Maam was at the helm.

Travel bugs

There is chaos at the airports, and British holiday plans are in disarray. Simply put, there are more flights than short-staffed control centres can handle. Government here has blamed the aviation industry for failing to replace the jobs they shed during lockdown. The industry, in turn, blames government for refusing to loosen Brexit-related immigration rules to allow the transfer of European workers to deal with UK shortages. Its a mess, with flights being cancelled even after passengers have taken their seats now almost a daily occurrence.

One take-off, however, the authorities hope will proceed as planned and without incident is next Tuesdays 7000-kilometre haul from the UK to Rwanda the first flight in the governments controversial plan to relocate asylum seekers to the central African nation where,according to the Home Office, they willbe able to rebuild their lives in safety.

There is some disagreement about this, and charities that support asylum seekers are reportedlydocumenting a number of suicide attemptsamong those threatened with deportation. As an Iranian due to be off-shored on TuesdaytoldThe Guardian: This is not what we ever expected of Britain. We all fled our home countries for one reason only because our lives were in danger. We hoped that coming to the UK would save us but it looks like we were wrong about this.

Those ingrates who have escaped the horrors of Yemen or Syria or wherever only to be relocated in Rwanda should understand they are participating in a world-leading project. Following in the footsteps of Speke and Burton (to the source of denial, so to speak), they will not only overhaul the broken asylum system and break the evil people smugglers business model but are likely to generate further discussion on home secretary Priti Patels disdain for refugees and her penchant for smirking at the less fortunate.

More turbulence

There is justifiable anger at the cack-handed questionnaire that Ryanair has been handing out to South African passengers to prove their nationality before allowing them to board aircraft in the UK and Europe.

According toreports, the budget airline has been telling SA passport holders they will be turned away unless they complete the test, which is only available in Afrikaans. Travellers who spoke to theFinancial Timessaid they were humiliated by the exam, which Ryanair said had been prompted by an increase in cases of fake South African passports.

The questions are indeed troubling. Passengers were asked, among other things, to name the current president, list three of the countrys official languages and to identify the countrys largest city. Little wonder, then, that in her hard-hitting analysis of the controversy, the BBCs Southern Africa correspondent, Nomsa Maseko, admitted thatshe could only answer fiveof the tests 15 questions.(Thats a passmore than 30 per cent correct!)

Here at the Slaughtered Lamb (Finest Ales & Pies), the regulars were easily able to come up with more relevant posers: When a Metro cop is thirsty, how much money does he or she want? How many times have Carl Niehauss parents died? What is the Zulu word for elbow? Any South African not knowing the answers shouldnt be allowed to leave the village, let alone be jetting around Europe.

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Brexit buggered Britain celebrates the Queen - OPINION - Politicsweb

A Conservative MP has sparked outrage after asking a prominent anti-Brexit protestor: why havent you been sectioned yet?

Lee Anderson confronted Steve Bray outside the Houses of Parliament this week, in the aftermath of the Tory backbench rebellion against Boris Johnson.

The MPs insult was called out by opposition figures, with Labours Dr Rosena Allin-Khan saying that politicians should not use mental health tropes when responding to criticism.

Sharing a video of the altercation on Twitter, the Labour MP who is also the shadow minister for mental health said: Being sectioned is a very traumatic experience and has a huge impact on the lives of people and their families. Lee Anderson should apologise.

It is not the first scrape Bray has got into in recent days. Earlier this week, another Tory MP made an offensive gesture towards after Bray confronted him outside a Westminster pub.

Paul Bristol, the Conservative MP for Peterborough, told Bray to fuck off after he approached him while he was having a drink.

Bristol later said that Bray who he called a public nuisance disturbed him while he was spending time with his family.

Related: Ban smoking in beer gardens and on beaches, major report suggests

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Tory MP asks anti-Brexit protestor: Why havent you been sectioned yet? - The London Economic

DUBLIN Northern Irelands economy is growing faster than Britain's, according to new regional analysis.

The Office of National Statistics found that Northern Irelands gross domestic product grew 1.4 percent in the July-September quarter of 2021, compared with gains of 0.9 percent and 0.6 percent in Scotland and England, respectively. Economic activity in Wales shrank 0.3 percent over the same quarter.

Londons globally connected economy masked a wider English malaise. While the capital recorded 2.3 percent growth, only two of Englands eight other regions eked out any gains. The northeast, including Newcastle and Sunderland, fared worst, with a 1.2 percent slump.

The analysis based chiefly on the quarterly VAT returns on sales of goods and services at 1.9 million firms offered no judgment on why the economy of Northern Ireland, normally a laggard, is outpacing other parts of the U.K. this year.

Another recent U.K. economic analysis explicitly credited Northern Irelands continued access to barrier-free trade with the 27-nation EU as a key driver.

That picture is reinforced by monthly reports from Irelands Central Statistics Office, which has documented a string of record-high trade figures between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland since the January 2021 launch of post-Brexit trade rules.

Those rules include a U.K.-EU trade protocol that keeps Northern Ireland within the EU single market for goods. While the regions unionist leaders oppose the protocol because it requires EU customs and sanitary controls on British goods arriving in Northern Ireland, this arrangement also allows Northern Irish firms to avoid this red tape when trading with their Irish neighbors and the wider 27-nation EU.

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Northern Ireland economy outpacing post-Brexit Britain - POLITICO Europe

Brexit has led to a decline in crops and fewer home-grown products on the shelves of Britains supermarkets, farming chiefs have warned.

Farmers in Kent told a visiting group of MPs that it has become easier to import some fruits than harvest them because of strict limits on the number of seasonal workers from the EU.

Winterwood Farms, an agricultural giant based in the county, said its UK farms had been forced to leave 8 per cent of their fruit crop unharvested and would be planting less in future.

Stephen Taylor, managing director of Winterwood in Maidstone, said the governments advice to replace lost EU labour with British workers and robots showed how out of touch ministers had become.

The flow of people coming from Europe to work for the summer has declined every year since Brexit, particularly the last two summers, and as a direct result we are now growing less and importing more, he said.

Calling for more flexible seasonal work visas, he added: The government could still allow the same people to carry out the harvest but it has inexplicably decided to choke the industry instead.

Labour MP Hilary Benn led a delegation of MPs and industry chiefs to visit Winterwoods farms in Kent to see the difficulties they are facing with labour shortages.

They were told the problem had hit the whole farming sector resulting in less fresh, more expensive imported fruit in British supermarkets to cover the shortfall.

The UK Trade and Business Commission delegation, which is examining the impact of Brexit, also heard that British farmers off-season trade had also been badly hit.

Farmers could previously sell any surplus from overseas operations to EU markets, but new Brexit red tape means they must now pay to dispose of this fruit.

Mr Benn, co-convenor of the commission, said the governments immigration and trade policies were raising questions over our food security.

The senior Labour MP added: It is essential that ministers urgently consider the introduction of more flexible visas for seasonal workers and negotiate better trading terms on fresh produce with our European neighbours.

Stephen Taylor, managing director of Winterwood Farms, wants more flexibility over seasonal workers

(PA)

Mr Benn and co-convenor Peter Norris have written to home secretary Priti Patel and environment secretary George Eustice to request urgent meetings on the problems affecting British farms.

Naomi Smith, chief executive of the internationalist campaign group Best for Britain, said Boris Johnsons ministers might have to stomachmore European berries in their Pimms this summer.

She added: The governments insufficient Brexit deal, far from being oven ready, actually means quality home-grown produce is left to rot, and leaves British supermarkets with no choice but to import, meaning consumers have less choice, less fresh produce and higher prices.

A recent report by academics at the LSE Centre for Economic Performance found that Brexit had caused a 6 per cent increase in Britainsfood prices.

The study showed a clear and robust impact of Brexit-induced trade frictions increasing food prices for UK consumers as families continued to struggle with the cost of living crisis.

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Brexit means fall in crops and fewer British products in supermarkets, farmers tell MPs - The Independent

Mark Brearley is still frustrated by Brexit. More than a year from Britains formal withdrawal from the EU, on terms agreed by Boris Johnsons government, exporting the goods his company produces hasnt got any easier for the London-based manufacturer.

Describing it as the same nightmare week after week, he says: A lot more time is spent with things going wrong. The EU really feels like the hardest place in the world to ship things to sometimes.

For the past seven decades the company Brearley runs, Kaymet, has made and sold tea trolleys, trays and hotplates from its factory just off the Old Kent Road to customers including the British royal family. Its thought that Kaymets wares were used by the queen celebrating her platinum jubilee this week on her coronation world tour. The company sells goods in 40 countries across the world.

But leaving the EU has added to Brearleys costs and makes selling items abroad more difficult. Theres loads of things I couldve been doing if it wasnt for these problems. We could do things that take us forward, rather than back, he says.

Official figures show that UK exports to the EU remain significantly below pre-Brexit levels, despite some recovery from an initial plunge in January 2021 at the end of the transition period. Exports had fallen 40% on the month as traders adapted to new red tape and border delays, but came back to finish last year down 11% compared with 2018 the year used by the Office for National Statistics as the most reliable comparison, before Brexit stockpiling and the Covid pandemic influenced trade flows.

However, concern is mounting that fresh Brexit roadblocks are looming as the government threatens to tear up the Northern Ireland Protocol, which covers trade between Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland. Despite Boris Johnson claiming to have got Brexit done, his government now views this central plank of his deal as broken.

Theres a sense of, Oh God, here we go again, says Brearley, who worries that Kaymet will suffer if the EU responds with fresh trade barriers.

Raoul Ruparel, who was Theresa Mays special adviser on Europe during the first round of Brexit negotiations, says companies could start dusting down their old no-deal Brexit plans if the situation worsens.

Any business will tell you its unhelpful, he says. In this case, a lot of them are just getting on with it and they just have to make the best of it. But what they dont want is constantly changing trade rules with the UK and the EU.

Despite business concerns of retaliation from Brussels, the government has insisted that pushing ahead is the right thing to do. The UKs solution to fix the problems with the protocol and protect the Belfast [Good Friday] Agreement will cut costs for businesses, remove unnecessary paperwork and protect UK and EU markets, a spokesperson said.

There could, however, be economic costs. Steffan Ball, the former chair of Philip Hammonds council of advisers when he was chancellor, and now chief UK economist at Goldman Sachs, says the most likely outcome is a compromise deal. Still, risks of significant economic impacts loom if one isnt reached, he warns.

Back in 2020, the Office for Budget Responsibility [OBR] estimated that a no-deal Brexit would reduce the level of real GDP by an additional 2% in the long run. In addition, the escalation in tensions raises the prospect of a trade war, with potential tariffs imposed on exports to the EU, he says. But this outcome is very unlikely in our view.

Even with the current deal, the OBR the Treasurys economics forecaster expects Brexit to cost the economy 4% of GDP over 15 years, double the long-term impact of the scarring from the Covid pandemic.

Trade figures suggest UK exporters are already feeling the pinch. According to the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, which tracks trends in global trade, goods exports in March from advanced economies including the UK, US, Japan and euro area were 2% above the monthly average for 2018, after adjusting for inflation. In the UK, however, real exports were almost 22% down in the same month.

Some sectors have suffered a more dramatic hit than others. Exports of clothing and footwear to the EU are both down by almost 60% compared with 2018. Meat exports have plunged by almost 25%, vegetables and fruit by 40%, while car exports are down by more than a quarter.

Paul Alger, director of international affairs at the UK Fashion and Textile Association, says the outsize hit for his industry is probably because many of the items sold by UK firms do not qualify for the post-Brexit trade deal. Under its terms, goods must meet rule of origin requirements, which require a certain proportion of an item to be domestically produced to benefit from tariff-free access. However, much of the clothing sold by UK retailers is made in Asia or the US, making it ineligible.

Theyre also finding that customs are very difficult in some countries. Particularly around labelling, said Alger. A lot of companies will say we didnt realise how good a deal we had for moving goods from the UK to the EU until we actually left.

In one example of shifting trade patterns, Marks & Spencer is setting up a warehouse to handle EU deliveries of clothing and homewares to reduce the impact of tariffs and export costs. The British high street stalwart said last week that Brexit had cost it 29.6m in profits and 15m in lost trade.

Danny Hodgson runs Rivet & Hide, which sells quality mens clothing from stores in London and Manchester as well as online. He says EU sales, which he spent a decade building, plunged by half in the first month after Brexit and never recovered.

Its really frustrating, he says. Rivet & Hide has pushed up prices for EU customers to include new tariffs, VAT and shipping costs.

I hear Johnson boasting about free trade and all the rest of it. I dont know how hes got the brass neck to talk about us doing free trade when basically hes the one whos imposed sanctions on our business. We were freely trading with the EU and now weve had tariffs imposed on us through our Brexit deals.

With Britains economy facing the risk of recession amid the cost of living crisis, Hodgson says the government has caused harm to the British economy that could have easily been avoided.

Were less profitable, theres a lot more work involved, theres a lot more hassle, but Im still slogging away at it in the hope one day things improve, he says. But if there was a trade war, it would finish that off.

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Same nightmare week after week: UK firms fed up with post-Brexit EU trade - The Guardian

Just when the whole of democratic Europe should be pulling together to counter the threat from Vladimir Putins Russia,a major rift between the European Union and Western Europes leading military power the United Kingdom has been widening. The problem is Brexit.

The U.K. is threatening to rip up part of the withdrawal deal it struck with the bloc just over two years ago on the grounds that its working badly in Northern Ireland.Trade between the British territory and the U.K. mainland has been disrupted and the regional governance of the province has broken down.

Some fear that this has imperiled the U.S.-brokeredGood Friday Agreement, a peace deal approved in 1998 that ended decades of violent struggle over British sovereignty in Northern Ireland.

Trading with the EU has certainly become a lot more complicated after Brexit. Just ask Archie Norman, chairman of the giant British food and clothing retailer Marks & Spencer. In an interview with the BBC, Norman revealed whats involved in sending just one truckload of goods across the Irish Sea to the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state.

Wagons have to carry 700 pages of documentation, he said. It takes eight hours to prepare the documentation, some of the descriptors have to be written in Latin, has to be in a certain typeface, it takes 30% more driver time. So its highly bureaucratic, very onerous and pretty pointless.

Itll be even more pointless, he said,when the Brexit grace periodends and he faces the same hassle sending goods across the Irish Sea to the British-owned northeast corner of the island of Ireland.

Quite a lot of product simply wouldnt get to Northern Ireland, and what does go there would be very, very costly, he said.

For most nonfood products arriving in Northern Ireland from the British mainland, the Brexit grace period is already over, and a wide swathe of goods from what is called Great Britain, or GB, has already been squeezed out of the Northern Ireland market.

Weve not brought a plant in from GB this year. Its just too much hassle, said Robin Mercer, who runs the Hillmount Garden Centre in Belfast.

Instead, hes had to buy his plants from further afield from EU countries like the Netherlands and Italy, where there are different weather and soil conditions. He believes the British plants are healthier and, after traveling shorter distances, arrive in better condition than their continental counterparts. He would prefer to import British plants.

Oh totally, he said. Weve worked with firms for 20, 30 years from GB. But its just so much paperwork now, so much hassle.

More than 200 companies based in Great Britain have stopped supplying Northern Ireland because of that hassle, according to the U.K. government.

But all these difficulties, said Mattia Di Ubaldo, a fellow at the U.K. Trade Policy Observatory, are theinevitable result of Brexit.

These checks are what typically applies to any third country that tries to import things into the EU, he said. The EU has to protect the integrity of the single market. They cannot allow a border where productscould leak intothe European Union without being subject to the checks.

And, he said, those checks have to take place when the goods enter the island of Ireland. They cannot take place between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

Avoiding a border in the island of Ireland was necessary to protect the peace process, he said, echoing the view of the large minority in the British province that wants a united Ireland.

That view of the border checks is shared by the government of the Irish Republic, the European Commission in Brussels and the U.S. administration, which all believe that checks between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic would undermine the Good Friday Agreement.

The trouble is that putting the border checks between the province and the rest of the U.K. instead under an arrangement called the Protocol has enraged many so-called unionists who want Northern Ireland to remain British. They believe that the Protocol itself undermines the Good Friday Agreement.

The Protocol must go, said Sammy Wilson of the Democratic Unionist Party, which is now refusing to take part in the assembly and power-sharing administration set up in the province by the Good Friday Agreement.

The Protocol is the poison in the system at present. There is no consent for the Protocol among any of the unionist representatives, Wilson said. The Good Friday Agreement requires the consent of both communities in Northern Ireland when it comes to any controversial or any important decisions.

The U.K. government in Londonagrees and has pledged to introduce a bill enabling it to suspend unilaterally parts of the Protocol if the EU doesnt agree to radical changes. Brexit-supporting lawmakers like Peter Bone welcomed the move.

The only way youre going to get the EU to come to the negotiation table and really negotiate with you is if you threaten them with that bill, he declared in a rowdy parliamentary session.

But Opposition spokesman on foreign affairs Stephen Doughty accused the government ofbad faith, of threatening to tear up a treaty that it signed just over two years ago.

Britain should be a country that keeps its word. The rest of the world is looking at us and wondering whether were a country they want to do business with, he said.

In the United States, Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, warned that Congress wouldnt agree to a free trade deal with the U.K. if the Brits ripped up the Protocol. The European Commission hinted at a trade war with the U.K. over the issue, and the U.S. State Department deplored this rift between the allies when they should be united behind Ukraine.

The EU said it is prepared to contemplate some changes in the Protocol but that it suspects the U.K. is trying to wriggle out of this key part of the withdrawal deal.

Meanwhile, the U.K. countered that the Protocol specifically acknowledged that the measure could be set aside if it proved unworkable. And both the political paralysis in the province and the trade disruption between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, said the government, show that the Protocol isnt working to the satisfaction of the unionists.

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Why the U.K. is threatening to tear up part of its Brexit treaty with the European Union - Marketplace