Category Archives: Brexit

Millions of daffodil stems will be left to rot in the fields this spring, as growers face a critical labour shortage that they fear could spell the end of the entire industry.

If we cant recruit more pickers, there wont be a daffodil industry left. The situation is very grim, said James Hosking, of Fentongollan Farm, near Truro in Cornwall.

Some growers expect up to 75% of their crop will be left unpicked this spring due to a lack of workers. Many smaller growers are planning to give up daffodil growing entirely, with attempts to recruit locals failing to bring enough people to the fields.

Cornwalls mild climate and light intensity make it the heart of the UKs 100m industry, with around 80% of the worlds daffodils grown in the duchy. Harvesting begins in the first week of January and a workforce of around 2,500 people is needed to pick over a billion stems.

Over the past couple of decades, growers have relied on eastern European labour to do the back-breaking work of picking each daffodil by hand in all weathers. The end of free movement following Brexit and Covid restrictions, however, made the 2021 spring season one of the toughest ever for recruiting workers. Around 275 million stems were left in the ground. This coming season looks set to be even more challenging.

If only 50% is picked this spring, the following spring youre looking at 25% of that. And that means youre out of business, said Hosking, who is the fourth generation of his family to grow daffodils at Fentongollan. Therell be no alternative but to stop growing daffodils. Thats the end of an industry the UK leads the world in.

Daffodils are a symbol of spring they bring people cheer and hope when the days are still gloomy. There wont be as many in the supermarkets this spring if nothing changes. You cant import daffodils from anywhere else Cornwall is the only place that can grow them at this time of year. But if you cant harvest your crop, you havent got a business. Full stop.

Hosking and the owners of Varfell Farms in Penzance, one of the largest growers in the country, say they have tried to recruit locals but with very limited success. Varfell recently held an open day at the farm that was widely publicised on local social media groups and newspapers. Only four people turned up.

Hosking also struggles to employ locals. We always have three or four local pickers, but we need 60. At the moment I have about 20 mostly people who return to us every year and who already have settled status to be in the UK, he said.

The best pickers can earn up to 30 an hour and the average wage at Varfell last spring was 14 an hour. But outdoor working in all weathers is not proving attractive. Many farms are also remote, needing its workers to live on site. These are seasonal jobs that cannot be mechanised and are not attractive to the local labour force, Alex Newey, owner of Varfell Farms, said. He is expecting to pick only a quarter of this coming seasons crop due to a lack of pickers.

The government has promised to extend a visa scheme allowing farmers to bring in seasonal workers from overseas. At the moment it only applies to fruit and vegetables, with non-edible crops excluded. Kevin Foster MP, the immigration minister, however, last week told MPs on the environment, food and rural affairs committee that non-edible crops will be added to the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (Saws).

But with just two weeks to go until picking is due to start and no formal announcement, growers say they need to start recruiting now if they are to save this years harvest. If, next week, the government announces a visa scheme that includes ornamental crops, we could potentially get up to speed with recruitment by early February. At least then the industry has a future, said Newey. Were hopeful it will happen, but it has to happen soon.

Weve heard promises from the government before, said Hosking. Were still waiting.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was contacted for a comment but did not respond.

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Millions of daffodils will rot if Brexit denies UK farmers foreign workers - The Guardian

At last. For the first time since he became prime minister, Boris Johnson is paying a direct price for his actions. For two long years, he seemed to defy the laws of political gravity, somehow floating high in the sky when his conduct, whether his lies or his failures, should have seen him crash to the ground.

His mishandling of the first phase of the pandemic was so disastrous, he presided over both the highest death toll in Europe and the deepest economic slump in the G7. It was a record of both calamitous misjudgment and corruption, as contracts worth hundreds of millions were funnelled to those with friends in high Tory places. He appointed useless ministers, several of whom became mired in scandal. And yet Johnson remained aloft, riding the warm air currents of consistent leads in the opinion polls.

His admirers said he was a politician like no other, immune to the pressures that would bring down lesser mortals. That immunity fed a sense of impunity. But in the early hours of Friday morning, among the fields and farms of North Shropshire, Johnson fell to earth.

The Tories took a beating in this byelection, losing a seat they had held for the best part of two centuries. Only once before had they seen a bigger collapse of their vote to the Liberal Democrats (or its predecessor parties), and that was three decades ago. Talk to those involved, on all sides, and they agree that voters were driven chiefly by fury with the prime minister over the revelations of Downing Street partying when the rest of the country was locked down against a killer disease, and what one minister calls the general shitshow of this government.

This result, coupled with a now steady if not huge Labour poll lead, has Conservative MPs rattled. They are alarmed especially by the way the anti-Conservative voters of North Shropshire organised themselves, as Labour and Green supporters put aside their affiliations to vote for the candidate best placed to defeat the Tory. Tactical voting cost the Conservatives about 30 seats in 1997: if the next general election is close, and that pattern were repeated, it could make the difference between victory and defeat.

No less troubling for Conservative HQ is the prospect of Lib Dems revived: if Labour is to be in power, it needs the Lib Dems to do well, capturing Tory seats that are out of Labours reach. Little wonder twitchy Tory MPs are now debating how long they should give Johnson to get his act together: one more strike and hes out or let him stagger on to contest the local elections in May. He has, says Ruth Davidson, been put on warning by his MPs.

Of course, we should not get carried away. Its only one byelection, fought in deeply inhospitable conditions for the government asking voters to back them in a contest triggered by an MP resigning in disgrace. That said, its the specific contours of North Shropshire that should have Conservatives seriously worried. For they suggest that the formula that won the party its 80-seat majority in 2019 is disintegrating.

A core ingredient two years ago was Brexit. Johnsons promise to Get Brexit Done forged a new electoral coalition and seemed to presage a realignment of British politics, allowing the Tories to make inroads in historically hostile territory. That should have made North Shropshire doubly safe, not only as a Tory bastion since the Great Reform Act, but as a place where 60% voted leave. And yet the constituency spurned Johnson as vehemently as any remainer city.

To be clear, this was not a repudiation of Brexit though farmers in the constituency, like others across the country, are livid at post-Brexit free trade deals that will, among other things, dump cheap Australian beef into the UK market. Rather it means that exit from the EU no longer performs the function it once did, acting as the glorious, redemptive promise for which all other sins might be forgiven. In 2019, voters were ready to overlook any misgivings they might have had about the Tories including, in those red wall seats, the fact that they were Tories for the prospect of getting Brexit done. Now, even in the Conservative heartland and even among hardcore leavers, departure from the EU is not enough to wash away the sins of booze, nibbles and party games, or Patersons fat Randox contracts.

A second ingredient was Johnson himself, the famed Heineken politician. Except in North Shropshire he became the man who repelled the parts every other Tory leader used to reach. Thats a reverse Heineken.

Throughout his career, including as mayor of London, Johnsons trick, revered by his devotees as a superpower, was to appeal to voters who didnt much like Tories. Indeed, his appeal was tacitly predicated on an understanding that the Conservative party was a damaged brand. But the events of recent weeks have seen that trick unravel, with Johnson becoming the very embodiment of the same old Tories.

One Conservative frontbencher says the prime minister has confirmed the suspicion many voters always had: that when you peek behind the curtain, Tories are privileged, sneering elites who take the rest of us for fools. Once cherished for defying the Tory stereotype of stuffy formality, Johnson now incarnates a much more poisonous set of tropes: that Tories believe its one rule for them, one rule for everyone else; that they look out for themselves and their mates; that theyre pampered and spoilt, laughing at those who are less lucky. That grates on those who lent their votes to Johnson in 2019, believing he was not like the others. But it rankles too with traditional Tories, like those who voted on Thursday, who have, says that Tory MP, concluded that the prime minister is someone whose morals and character they dont like or respect.

None of this is going to get better soon for the Conservatives. There is discontent across the kingdom, with voters in the north angry that levelling up remains more rhetorical than real, voters in the blue wall south angry about ugly housing developments dumped in their backyards, and all of them hit by the rising cost of living, rising interest rates, rising taxes and the prospect of losing their homes to pay for social care.

For Labour, a couple of big questions now loom. First, can it rely on tactical voting to work as smoothly in a general election as it did in North Shropshire, or does it need to make currently unspoken alliances with Lib Dems and the Greens more explicit? Second, does it serve the party better to see the Tories remove the prime minister, or would a wounded, tainted Johnson be easier to beat? As dilemmas go, these are far more comfortable than the ones that have tended to afflict the party in recent years. Indeed, with a newly vigorous shadow cabinet, Labour can look to 2022 with rather more confidence than it has felt for most of the last decade. The Tories may yet defy the odds and even the fates but they can no longer defy gravity.

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The Brexit n Boris formula was a winner for the Tories. Now its falling apart - The Guardian

In the history books to come, it will probably be simply known as Year Two of the coronavirus pandemic.

But aside from the restrictions, R-numbers, variants and vaccinations, 2021 had plenty going on politically in Northern Ireland.

And Christmas is that most wonderful time of the year when we can take stock with glass in hand - and look ahead to what a new year may bring.

Top of the tree must surely be the unprecedented implosion of the Democratic Unionist Party.

Arlene Foster was ousted as DUP leader and her successor Edwin Poots got the boot soon afterwards, leaving Sir Jeffrey Donaldson to take charge.

The veteran politician has managed to steady the ship since those bruising couple of months of party infighting, walk-outs and resignations, although challenges remain.

Brexit framed much of the upheaval as unease grew over the implications of the self-inflicted wound to unionism of leaving the European Union.

The new Irish Sea trade checks under the Northern Ireland Protocol came into effect in January and had problems from the outset, with shortages visible on some supermarket shelves.

Many loyalists viewed the increased red tape as separating the region from the rest of the UK.

Their anger over the deal and a melting pot of other issues, such as the Bobby Storey funeral controversy and lockdown fatigue, boiled over into successive nights of street violence.

Small pockets of protest have continued, but the parading season did not become the long hot summer of unrest that some had predicted.

Brexit remains a problem for Sir Jeffrey as negotiations between the UK and EU on the protocol bleed into next year and closer towards May's Assembly election.

That leaves little time for the DUP to spin any changes as a victory for the party in achieving its deliberately vague aim of 'removing the Irish Sea border'.

Party leadership changes were like buses this year. As we waited for the DUP contest, along came the resignation of Steve Aiken as Ulster Unionist leader.

The former submariner was swiftly replaced without contest by ex-Army captain Doug Beattie - the UUP's fourth leader in four years.

Socially liberal and engaging in media performances, his installation has helped differentiate the Ulster Unionists from their rivals.

Mr Beattie has also attracted a broad section of high-profile new recruits including from the DUP, Alliance and PUP. The party is hoping this will provide electoral success in the new year.

Other parties have also spent much of the year preparing for May's election, with several new MLAs co-opted and a drip-feed of candidate announcements in a bid to build momentum.

Sinn Fin endured its own internal problems in Foyle as MLAs Martina Anderson and Karen Mullan stepped aside following a party review of recent election disappointments in the constituency.

But overall the party has been as regimented as ever. With successive polls placing Sinn Fin ahead of the DUP, it is aiming to have Michelle O'Neill appointed as First Minister.

The most unlikely political battle of the year was Health Minister Robin Swann vs Van Morrison as the singer railed against Covid restrictions. Expect Mr Swann's defamation case against the musician to make further headlines next year.

As 2021 draws to a close, is there much Christmas cheer? Not really, unfortunately.

The omicron Covid variant looms heavily over the festive season with fresh restrictions likely.

And several big political issues that built up in 2021 - the British government's divisive plans to end Troubles prosecutions, Irish language legislation, the Northern Ireland Protocol and stalled abortion services - are all being shunted into the new year.

Not much is certain about how the next 12 months will unfold, but what is clear is that 2022 looks set to be another bumper year for local politics.

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Brendan Hughes: Brexit, Covid and Van Morrison - the political year that was 2021 - Belfast Live

Northern Irelands unionist party has threatened action if the UK government does not act on the Brexit Protocol affecting the region, the most senior unionist in the House of Lords has warned.

The threat comes after leading negotiator, Brexit Secretary David Frost has resigned from his role in a delicate moment in the negotiations process with the EU.

Meanwhile, the government has softened its stance on the Northern Ireland Protocol by removing the option of triggering article 16, sparking anger among unionists.

Responding to the news that the UK government also no longer intends to scrap the European Court of Justice in overseeing the Protocol, Lord Dodds, ex DUP deputy leader, said: Every day that passes with the protocol in place is another day which sees Northern Ireland and Great Britain move further apart. This is unsustainable.

If the UK government cant or wont act, then unionism will and soon.

Dodds added it was very clear protocol talks were being dragged out with little prospect of an outcome which meets the bar established by Frosts command paper in summer, which demanded the Protocol is rewritten.

And he claimed Frost withdrew from his stance to remove barries with Britain with regards to medicine supplies, according to The Guardian.

Earlier this week, he told the House of Lords that the delicate balance of relationships across these islands have been trashed as a result of the Northern Ireland protocol.

Head of the DUP, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, said the party had been patient whilst negotiations have continued and urged the government to take decisive action at the beginning of the year to restore Northern Irelands place in the UK.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland parties suggested they see Brexit Secretary David Frosts resignation as an opportunity to improve talks with the European Union.

Sinn Fein, the SDLP and the Alliance Party all agreed that Britains exit from the EU now has more chances of a successful negotiation now that Lord Frost has left his role.

But Sinn Fein vice president Michelle ONeill said Lord Frost had undermined the NI Protocol.

She said: David Frost negotiated Brexit of which a majority here rejected.

He has undermined the Protocol since, which limits the damage of Brexit on our people and economy. We now need momentum in the talks to make it work better. The North will not be collateral damage in the Tory chaos.

ONeill told the BBC: This is the same David Frost who negotiated Brexit and he has worked to undermine it every day since.

I am less concerned about what is going on in the Tory Party and the dismay and the disruption.

What I am more concerned about is that the protocol is made to work, that pragmatic solutions are found, that certainty and stability is achieved for all of our business community here who have been left high and dry in terms of uncertainty because of the Brexit mess.

Related:Flashback to Brexiteers claiming EU deal is one of the easiest in history

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Northern Irelands DUP threatened action if Tories dont act on Brexit - The London Economic

British Brexit Minister David Frost speaks to the media ahead of a meeting with European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic in Brussels, Belgium November 19, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman

LONDON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - British Brexit minister David Frost urged the European Union on Friday to try to find a solution early next year to part of the Brexit agreement that covers trade to Northern Ireland, saying there had not been enough progress on several issues.

Frost said the "main area of progress has been on medicine supply to Northern Ireland" but that there had been "much less progress" on customs and other arrangements for goods moving between Britain and Northern Ireland.

"It is disappointing that it has not been possible to reach either a comprehensive or worthwhile interim agreement this year. A solution needs to be found urgently early next year," he said in a statement.

"For as long as there is no agreed solution, we remain ready to use the Article 16 safeguard mechanism if that is the only way to protect the prosperity and stability of Northern Ireland and its people."

Register

Reporting by Kate Holton and Elizabeth Piper

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Solutions need to be found early next year to post-Brexit trade, says Frost - Reuters UK

The UK has abandoned its attempt to strip EU judges of the power to oversee the Northern Ireland Protocol, in another Brexit climbdown.

The U-turn denied by Downing Street just days ago would allow the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to interpret the agreement, despite repeated pledges to remove its role.

The move comes after David Frost, the Brexit minister, also pulled back from threats to trigger Article 16 of the Protocol, despite Unionist anger over the trade barrier created in the Irish Sea.

In October, Lord Frost travelled to Lisbon to vow the ECJ would not be allowed to have a remit but new UK proposals would see it interpret matters of EU law.

Disputes would be settled by an independent arbitration panel, rather than the European Commission, a model offered to Brussels by Switzerland.

The climbdown also follows the UK government quietly issuing more fishing licences to French boats, helping to calm a second Brexit dispute that raged in the autumn.

However, the EU appeared to stamp on even the compromise plan for the Protocol, with disputes over customs declarations and physical checks on goods also set to tumble on into 2022.

At a Brussels press conference, Maros Sefcovic, the Commission vice-president, said the UK signed up to the ECJs existing remit, so it was a topic we are not ready to include in our discussions.

Jenny Chapman, Labours Brexit spokeswoman, attacked the governments incompetent approach to these negotiations that is starting to wear thin with the public who are paying for it all.

And all this is happening without the voice of Northern Ireland in the room, she told The Independent.

The fact that Johnsons government was prepared to use the issue of access to medicines for UK citizens as leverage tells you a lot about their priorities.

That dispute to ease the flow of medicines from Britain to Northern Ireland is now likely to be settled, after the UK agreed to seek a piecemeal agreement on Protocol clashes.

Brussels has welcomed that approach as the UK finally waking up to reality, after it insisted there was no question of scrapping the ECJ role, given Northern Ireland remains in its single market.

But it is certain to infuriate many Conservative backbenchers and the Unionist parties, who face perilous elections to the Stormont assembly next year.

A government source said: Since the EU wont address all the issues we put on the table now, we are willing to look at interim solutions which deal with the most acute problems.

But any such interim agreement must put a stop to the ECJ settling disputes between us and the EU, now and in the future.

The choice of words allows for the court to retain jurisdiction to interpret matters of EU law a concession first made by the prime minister a year ago.

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Brexit climbdown as UK abandons bid to strip EU judges of Northern Ireland Protocol role - The Independent

Batuhan, 25, Bournemouth

Occupation Support worker and neuropsychology research assistantVoting record Batuhan is not eligible to vote in the UK. In the last Turkish local government elections, he voted for the centre-left Republican Peoples partyAmuse bouche Huge fan of basketball; supports any team LeBron James is playing for

Occupation Semi-retired; runs a mental health charity, Sporting RecoveryVoting record Votes Labour, except when Tony Blair was leader, when he voted Green or for the Socialist partyAmuse bouche Was the first black person in the country to be a football community development officer: that was in the 80s, for Millwall, where he received death threats

Batuhan We arrived at the same time. The first thing I realised was that he was wearing a traditional scarf from my home country. I said: In the eastern part of Turkey, people wear this. He said: Yeah, I wore it on purpose. Hed looked up my name. I thought that was really nice.

Ron Ive been to Turkey a couple of times, and fell in love with the place. They like black people. Batuhans a nice guy, extremely clever. As I say in the trade, double-clever. I took the lead and ordered burgers for us.

Batuhan I support Brexit. The idea behind it was to liberate the UK from taking on the debt of other countries. We are working here, and making money why are we giving money to Greece and other European countries? We could spend that money here, for the children of England, Scotland or Wales, building new facilities. I supported Turkey joining the EU because of the passport exemptions; I thought it would ease the travel pressures. But its different for the UK. Turkey would have had more advantages than disadvantages from membership, whereas I think the opposite is true for the UK.

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Ron Hes such a nice guy, but supports Brexit, the so-and-so! Hes young; its not normal for a young guy to be pro-Brexit. When the Brexit vote happened, I felt I wasnt wanted in this country, even though I was born here. It was just Johnson and Farage, selling their rhetoric, which was xenophobic. I think he took it on board.

Batuhan Right now, I think the EU is taking its revenge on the UK. And they will learn that England is not a country you can take revenge on.

Ron Not being funny, most people who voted for Brexit were quite thick.

Batuhan He said something offensive about the English people, that I do not want to repeat. We agreed we need people from other countries to work in healthcare, supermarkets, lorry drivers. But he has this belief that Brexit will be the end of the UK. Its the capitalist world. Its always going to right itself.

Ron My dad sold his two cows in Jamaica to get here. A tenner each. He came first, my mum came after, then they had us here. They named us Ronald and Derek. Subconsciously they knew that if we had British names wed be more likely to get on. I said to Batuhan: I bet youve been discriminated against just because of your name. Youve got to do twice as much, be twice as good. He agreed with that. I think he was quite shy and I well, not bullied him, I beat him over the head a few times.

Batuhan We agreed on that we also agreed that, 100 years ago, 50 years ago, if a black man or an Asian person was walking down the street, he would have been verbally assaulted. Just because those behaviours no longer happen doesnt mean racism is dead.

Ron There was an important crossover: he does neuroscience and Ive worked in mental health all our interests are from the neck upwards. I deliver exercise to people with brain injuries, for them to recover their coordination, learn to walk again. And hed done work on brain injuries in neuroscience.

Batuhan Our jobs arent similar, but they do overlap; were both very interested in rehabilitation.

Ron It was a nice, pleasant afternoon. We got on well. You can differ, cant you?

Batuhan Friendship doesnt need you to agree on everything. You can still sit and talk like gentlemen, like civilised people. I really enjoyed talking with Ron. Im going to see him in Salisbury.

Additional reporting: Naomi Larsson

Batuhan and Ron ate at Goat and Tricycle in Bournemouth

Want to meet someone from across the divide? Click here to find out more

This article was amended on 17 December to correct some personal information.

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Dining across the divide: Hes such a nice guy but supports Brexit. Hes young; its not normal - The Guardian

(Pixabay)

British SMEs, particularly those operating with the e-commerce sector, are suffering the most a year on from the UK and the EU signing the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), largely due to EU regulation changes to VAT and a lack of resources needed to adapt.

In addition, even though it has been almost a year since the agreement was signed, and many years since the Brexit vote, the government still needs to invest more in technology and infrastructure to ensure a smooth trade of goods with the EU.

The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation (TCA) was agreed on 24 December and entered into force on 1 January 2021. Among other matters, the TCA established the foundation of a trading relationship between the UK and EU reflecting the UK's status as a third country following the UK's exit from the European Union.

As it currently stands, from 1 January 2022 importers of goods from the EU into GB will need to submit full customs declarations; a separate grace period, which waived the requirement for traders to submit a Supplier's Declaration when seeking to claim zero-tariff treatment under the TCA's rules of Origin, will also expire on this date. From 1 July 2022, a number of new requirements for products subject to Sanitary and Phytosanitary controls will be introduced. In other words, additional burdens are imminent.

The Lords Committee took evidence which found that since the agreement of the TCA and the end of the transition period nearly one year ago, businesses trading goods between Great Britain and the EU have faced additional administrative burdens, making it more complicated and expensive to trade with the EU.

These burdens have fallen particularly heavily on smaller and medium sized businesses (SMEs), who have fewer resources to draw upon to help them adapt. This has affected SMEs both in the UK and the EU.

Commenting on the report released today, Lord Kinnoull, Chair of the Committee, said:

The impact of the new trade barriers on business since the implementation of the TCA on 1 January 2021 has been uneven. Smaller businesses, which often lack the resources to adjust to new costs, and the agri-food sector, which faces an additional set of trade barriers in the form of Sanitary and Phytosanitary requirements (SPS) requirements, have been particularly hard hit.

With further customs and rules of origin requirements for importers coming down the track in a matter of weeks, it is vital that the Government communicates these deadlines to businesses and enforces them in a pragmatic manner that seeks to educate traders, rather than punish them.

It is important that these current challenges do not disincentivise GB-EU trade in either direction. We urge the Government to engage the EU in further dialogue and utilize platforms such as the TCA Specialized Committees to reach a more flexible and more comprehensive agreement to develop a mutually beneficial and efficient trading relationships with its neighbors in the EU.

The Committee took evidence from the Federation of Small Businesses, which said that trading under the TCA had been "very challenging" for smaller firms, citing data that highlighted about a fifth of its members who export to the EU, or previously exported to the EU, have stopped that activity since the beginning of the year.

James Sibley, Head of International Affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses, said that "the micro and small end of the SME spectrum quite often lacks the resource to make the necessary adjustments", whereas "businesses more at the medium end ... seem more able to adjust".

And whilst there is no explicit provision in the TCA for VAT charges, the UK's departure from the EU VAT area has meant further friction and burden placed on businesses too.

The Federation of Small Businesses said that for its members, "increased costs and administrative requirements that result from the UK leaving the EU VAT area are one of the biggest concerns for small businessesconcerns are particularly acute for e-commerce retailers and for those engaging in business-to-consumer sales".

Changes to EU rules on e-commerce, which came into force on 1 July 2021, was highlighted as a major concern by those giving evidence.

The rules mean that all commercial good imported into the EU are subject to import VAT, whereas this was only subject to goods over the value of 22.

An Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) digital portal has been established, which businesses conducting online sales of goods valued at 150 or less can use to comply with their VAT obligations. The IOSS allows businesses to register on an EU-wide basis, rather than in each Member State where they have a turnover above a certain threshold as was previously the case.

In addition, most non-EU businesses using IOSS need to appoint an EU- established intermediary or fiscal representative in order to fulfill their VAT obligations.

The Federation of Small Businesses told the Committee that "in theory, IOSS should make the lives of SMEs exporting to the EU a lot easier", particularly as it meant traders no longer needed to register in multiple EU Member States. But, it added, that the requirement for a fiscal representative was "prohibitively expensive for many small firms ... both in administrative burden and securities paid towards VAT liability."

The British Government has announced its intention to create a "lighter tough" border regime and create the best border in the world', as outlined in its 2025 UK Border Strategy.

The Committee welcomes the Government's intention to implement a lighter-touch border regime, as well as its wider drive to operate the "best border in the world" under its 2025 UK Border Strategy.

The Strategy sets out a number of programmes to achieve these aims, including:

The development of a Single Trade Window, allowing traders to submit all relevant import, export, and transit related regulatory requirements and data into a single government digital portal;

Implementation of an Electronic Travel Authorisation to speed passenger journeys through ports;

A major review of the agencies and checks that occur at the border, "to rationalize these wherever possible"

However, the Committee heard from Elly Darkin, Senior Associate at Global Counsel, a think tank advising on government policy and business, that it is an "urgent priority" that the government focus on "digital infrastructure [and] physical infrastructure at ports and Border Control Ports".

In a letter to the Committee dated, the Paymaster General, Michael Ellis MP, said that the Government has allocated a total of 705m to fund infrastructure, jobs and technology at the GB-EU border, of which 470m was on infrastructure and 235m on staffing and IT systems.

The Committee heard that "some physical infrastructure" was in place in time for the end of the transition period, but further infrastructure will be needed for the introduction of the remaining controls. And that although government officials were "very confident" about their preparations for new infrastructure, it is already clear that temporary arrangements will be needed in some areas.

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Brexit UK-EU trade agreement hitting SMEs and e-commerce the hardest - Diginomica

New figures have shown that UK food and drink exports to the EU plunged by almost a quarter in the nine months after Boris Johnsons Brexit deal took effect, compared to pre-pandemic levels, with a loss of 2.4bn in sales.

Exports to big European markets were hit hard, with sales to Spain down by more than half (50.6 per cent) on 2019 levels, Germany by 44.5 per cent and Italy by 43.3 per cent, according to the Food and Drink Federation. Sales to the industrys largest overseas market, the Republic of Ireland, were down by more than a quarter.

And industry leaders warned that the downturn could be here to stay, in a blow not only to Mr Johnsons global Britain aspirations but also his plans to level up disadvantaged parts of the country.

The FDF said that the slump in sales could be blamed both on new barriers to trade created by Brexit and Mr Johnsons Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) with Brussels, and on the global Covid-19 pandemic.

But figures showed that UK sales of food and drink products to non-EU markets rose by 11 per cent in the first three quarters of 2021, suggesting that Brexit is to blame for the lions share of lost trade with Europe. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were worst affected.

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Home Secretary Priti Patel is greeted by a police dog at a special memorial service for Met Police Sergeant Matiu Ratana

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Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City battles for possession with Aaron Cresswell of West Ham United during a match at the Etihad during snow

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Residents clear branches from a fallen tree in Birkenhead, north west England as Storm Arwen triggered a rare red weather warning

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An aerial picture shows a worker using a quad bike and trailer to transport freshly harvested trees at Pimms Christmas Tree farm in Matfield, southeast England

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A shopper browses Christmas trees for sale at Pines and Needles in Dulwich, London

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A murmuration of hundreds of thousands of starlings fly over a field at dusk in Cumbria, close to the Scottish border

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A pedestrian carries a dog as they dodge shoppers on Oxford Street in central London

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Migrants are helped ashore from a RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) lifeboat at a beach in Dungeness, on the south-east coast of England, on November 24, 2021, after being rescued while crossing the English Channel.

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The coffin of Sir David Amess is carried past politicians, including former Prime Ministers Sir John Major, David Cameron and Theresa May, Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Prime Minister Boris Johnson during the requiem mass for the MP at Westminster Cathedral, central London

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The scene in Dragon Rise, Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset where police have launched a murder probe after two people were found dead

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London-based midwife Sarah Muggleton, 27, takes part in a 'March with Midwives' in central London to highlight the crisis in maternity services

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Police officers monitor as climate change activists sit down and block traffic during a protest action in solidarity with activists from the Insulate Britain group who received prison terms for blocking roads, on Lambeth Bridge in central London

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A giant installation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson made from recycled clothing goes on display at Manchester Central, as part of Manchester Art Fair, in a 'wake-up call for the Prime Minister to tackle textile waste'

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The scene at a recycling centre in Stert, near Devizes in Wiltshire after a large blaze was brought under control. The fire broke out on Wednesday night the fire service has said and local residents were advised to keep windows and doors shut due to large amounts of smoke

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The sun rises over South Shields Lighthouse, on the North East coast of England

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ancer Maithili Vijayakumar at the launch of 2021 Diwali celebrations at St Andrew Square in Edinburgh

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Forensic officers work outside Liverpool Women's Hospital, following a car blast, in Liverpool

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Wreaths by the Cenotaph after the Remembrance Sunday service in Whitehall, London

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Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of detainee Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, is ending his hunger strike in central London after almost three weeks. Ratcliffe has spent 21 days camped outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London without food. He began his demonstration on 24 October after his wife lost her latest appeal in Iran, saying his family was caught in a dispute between two states

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Peter Green protesting outside the Cop26 gates during the official final day of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow.

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Seagulls fly around the statue entitled 'Tommy', a first World War soldier by artist Ray Lonsdale at dawn in Seaham, Britain

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Climate activists dressed as characters inspired by the Netflix series Squid Game protest as they ask Samsung to go 100% renewable energy, outside the venue for COP26 in Glasgow

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A deer statue silhouetted at Loch Faskally in Pitlochry, Scotland

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Sunrise over St Mary's Lighthouse at Whitley Bay on the North East coast of England

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Activists from Friends of the Earth during a demonstration calling for an end to all new oil and gas projects in the North Sea outside the UK Government's Cop26 hub during the Cop26 summit in Glasgow

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Protesters take part in a rally organised by the Cop26 Coalition in Glasgow demanding global climate justice

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Final touches are made to a life sized Sir David Attenborough cake surrounded by animals as part of a display created by a group of cake artists during Cake International at NEC Birmingham

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A spectacular display of the Northern Lights seen over Derwentwater, near Keswick in the Lake District

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Police and demonstrators at a Extinction Rebellion protest on Buchanan Street, during the Cop26 summit in Glasgow

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A person walks along the Basingstoke canal near to Dogmersfield in Hampshire

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Sir David Attenborough delivers a speech during Cop26 in Glasgow

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Extinction Rebellion activists protest in Edinburgh as the Cop26 conference begins in Glasgow

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Food and drink exports to Europe fall by a quarter after Brexit - The Independent

The government is planning to water down the regulatory requirements on key chemicals, in what experts fear could be the first move to a weaker post-Brexit safety regime for potentially toxic substances.

Proposals published last week without fanfare on a government website set out some of the intended new rules for the new post-Brexit national chemicals regulator. The proposals would change the way substances of very high concern which include potential toxins and carcinogens, and chemicals that persist for a long time in the environment are dealt with.

Under EU law, these chemicals are formally identified and publicly listed on a candidate list, while authorities analyse them and decide whether to ban them or allow their use in certain circumstances, by transferring them to an authorisation list. Companies must inform regulators and their supply chains when dealing with products containing these candidate list chemicals, encouraging them to use alternatives.

Under the governments proposals, companies will not be obliged to submit information on substances of very high concern, but will be allowed to do so on a voluntary basis. Only chemicals likely to be transferred to the authorisation list would be listed on the candidate list, meaning a smaller number of notifiable chemicals will be analysed.

Zoe Avison, policy analyst at the Green Alliance thinktank, said: Relying on voluntary data submissions by chemical companies will almost certainly see hazardous substances falling through the cracks. The UK could have made sensible arrangements to reduce costs for industry and safeguard public health. Yet the government has boxed itself into a corner. After the new delay for companies to submit safety data for the UK market, this is a very worrying sign for the future of chemical regulation in the UK.

Experts told the Guardian they were concerned the governments move would weaken protections against harmful substances, and allow potentially toxic chemicals to slip through the net.

Michael Warhurst, executive director of Chem Trust, a charity that campaigns on harmful chemicals, said: It seems that the government is putting in unnecessary layers of information requirements before taking action, which will lead to regulatory inaction on a range of harmful substances. This will open the door to British consumers and the environment having greater exposure to harmful chemicals than in the EU, and second-rate system for regulating chemicals post-Brexit.

Jamie Page, of the Cancer Prevention and Education Society, added: We are concerned that protections that British citizens previously enjoyed are now being eroded. The more the UK diverges from the EU Reach [registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals] system and database, the more likely people are to be exposed to potentially hazardous chemicals.

The proposals by the government will not be subject to public consultation and will not require a vote in parliament. Under post-Brexit legal arrangements, ministers can make such alterations without discussion.

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: We are committed to maintaining an effective regulatory system for the management and control of chemicals, which safeguards human health and the environment and can respond to emerging risks. We have published our interim approach to the candidate list in UK Reach. This approach aims to ensure we have a single, coherent approach to nominating substances for the candidate list.

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Experts warn over post-Brexit UK rule changes on chemicals - The Guardian