The Davis Downside Dossier

According to the logistics industry news outlet, The Loadstar, British firms are being advised to reconfigure supply chains away from the single market to “mitigate the TCA’s adverse effects.” This comes from the Aston University report published recently which claims the “Reduction in trade scale due to Brexit, particularly in sectors burdened by higher trade barriers, has led to decreased efficiency and a loss of global competitiveness” and adds that this “at least partially, explains the wider decline in UK exports outside the EU. The disruption of global value chains in sectors such as footwear is particularly evident, with corresponding declines in both exports and imports.”

In a joint letter, the German interior minister and her French counterpart urge the EU Commission to “rapidly present a draft negotiating mandate” for talks with the UK on an “essential” asylum and migration deal. The letter says: We believe that Brexit has had very detrimental consequences for the coherence of our migration policies. The absence of provisions governing the flow of people between the UK and the Schengen area is clearly contributing to the dynamics of irregular flows — and to the danger posed to people using this route in the Channel and the North Sea.”

Singer and songwriter Elton John claims that Brexit has placed 'leg irons' on travelling musicians and says he also resents all the polarised opinions after “the bloody government tricked people into a bad vote” The rock icon said the red tape involved in moving between countries has caused a 'logistical nightmare' for the music industry, could jeopardise young artist’s future and also the country’s status as a cultural force.

Plans have been approved for border inspection facilities at the port of Larne in Northern Ireland. The development includes three inspection buildings, security huts, stores, road alterations, and animal waste holding tanks. The cost of employing environmental health officers at Larne was highlighted in April with the forecast that more than £700,000 will be spent within a 12-month period on council staff carrying out post-Brexit checks.

The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA), representing garden retailers and growers, has written to Lady Hayman, the borders, biosecurity and plant health minister, warning that some specialist transporters were now withdrawing from the UK market completely. It follows events at the Sevington border control post in Kent last week, when several lorries transporting plants from Italy were held for more than eight days over fears they were transporting pests into Britain. One Italian supplier has paused deliveries to the UK, leaving a number of UK customers waiting for deliveries.

UK farmers are said to be struggling with red tape surrounding post-Brexit environmental subsidy schemes, according to The Times. John Atkinson, a Lake District farmer says joining the new Countryside Stewardship higher-tier scheme is “like pulling hens’ teeth.” This is despite a £358 million underspend of the agriculture budget over the past three years. The National Farmers Union (NFU) call it a “kick in the teeth” for farmers. NFU president Tom Bradshaw said the underspend was the result of new and incomplete government schemes replacing the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), the outgoing EU subsidy.

The mother of a Yorkshire student says Brexit has made studying abroad “impossible” as she battles to get her daughter a visa in time to attend the University of Barcelona. Fay Bird, from Dinnington, South Yorkshire, says she applied to visa outsource provider BLS International on 1 July but is still waiting. Her daughter, Niamh King, due to start studying on 30 September 30 has spent £89 on a criminal record document, £80 for the cost of the visa, £79 for a medical form, £80 to post the documents and £100 on applying for a second passport, bringing her total costs to £548 - which could all be for nothing.

A new report from the think tank UK in a Changing Europe claims the UK’s exit from the EU’s Internal Energy Market (IEM) has made the trading of energy more costly. The inefficiency is estimated to have increased wholesale electricity costs by 0.25%-0.70% per year (£130m-£370m in 2022), with the cost spread across generators and consumers in Britain and the EU. UKICE also suggests the move has created barriers to investment in hybrid assets (the next generation of interconnectors which enable multiple connections from offshore wind farms to national grids) in the north seas, as this requires interoperability between the GB and EU energy markets.

A plant nursery in Swanley, Kent, has constructed a biosecure barn to conduct checks on products arriving from Europe because of dysfunction in the post-Brexit border control system. Provender Wholesale is one of a growing number of UK plant and food traders setting up their own “control points” where products can be inspected, as an alternative to state-run facilities. Stuart Tickner, head of the nursery and biosecurity at Provender said: “The way it’s going is we’re losing all control. By becoming a control point, we bring some of that aspect of control back to us.”

An analysis by Pan UK (Pesticide Action Network) using data from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which regulates pesticides in the UK, and shared with The Guardian, has revealed that the amount of pesticide residue allowed on scores of food types in England, Wales and Scotland has soared since Brexit, with some now thousands of times higher. For tea, the maximum residue level (MRL) was increased by 4,000 times for both the insecticide chlorantraniliprole and the fungicide boscalid. For glyphosate, classed as a “probable human carcinogen” by the World Health Organization (WHO), the MRL for beans was raised by 7.5 times.

According to the Horticultural trade journal Hortweek, officials from DEFRA have blocked 11 trucks at a Border Control Post (BCP) at Sevington in Kent for 11 days on suspicion of finding Pochazia shantungensis. leading to affected hauliers saying they will never deliver to the UK again and to the death of thousands of pounds worth of trees.

Dame Angela Eagle, the border security and asylum minister, claims that an error by the previous government in the negotiation of post-Brexit trade rules has delayed the replacement of the UK’s Border Force fleet and increased the cost to the taxpayer by hundreds of millions. According to The Times, the replacement of five cutters and six patrol vessels used to monitor Britain’s borders and pick up people attempting to cross the Channel, will be delayed until at least 2030, while costs are likely to increase to £300 million, six times the original budget.

Inconsistencies and inaccuracies in veterinary regulations are ‘crippling’ the UK meat sector warns the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS). The trade body, representing the UK's meat and poultry industry, described the current situation as ‘untenable’. Jason Aldiss, AIMS' head of external affairs, said: “We are seeing a complete failure in the consistency of veterinary controls, which is compounded by the inaccuracy of the manual, outdated export certification system. Errors in veterinary certification are causing substantial losses for the industry, and without immediate action, these inefficiencies will continue to destabilise the meat sector.”

The BBC reports that two elements of the Windsor Framework agreed in February 2023 and due to be implemented at the start of October have now been delayed until next year. New customs processes for parcels and freight sent to Northern Ireland have now been postponed by HMRC until March 2025 at the earliest, after some businesses had expressed concerns that there had not been enough time to prepare for the changes (see also entry 2049).

Asset managers Abrdn (formerly Standard Life Aberdeen plc) has claimed that outdated post-Brexit regulation around investment trust cost disclosure has “set the UK back by three years on infrastructure.” Christian Pittard, head of closed-end funds at Abrdn, said: “Cost disclosure rules, which have amounted to a distortive 'double counting' of costs, have negatively impacted investor sentiment, therefore choking flows into investment trusts. They have been a key cause of these three lost years of infrastructure investment.”

A trade 'snapshot' for the first half of 2024 published by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) shows food and drink exports to the EU declined by 23.6% in volume terms, and 4.3% in value. Certification requirements are said to be, by far, the “biggest obstacle to growth.”  A decline in beef and poultry imports since the introduction of the Export Health Certificate on EU imports in February 2024 demonstrates the effect of this requirement on trade, the FDF claims.

The government has postponed indefinitely plans to force food manufacturers to put “not for EU” labels on all meat and dairy products sold across Britain from next month after warnings that the scheme could cause “chaos” for producers and suppliers. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) had estimated the cost to the industry of meeting the new labelling requirements at up to £250m a year, and warned that it would increase the price of products for shoppers. The plan was part of the Windsor framework agreed with the EU last year.

The FT cover a report published by academics at the Aston University showing that Brexit is having a “profound and ongoing” impact on Britain’s trade with the EU, with goods exports and imports still being impacted. Modelling indicates that the UK's annual exports to the EU are 17% down and imports 23% below where they would have been if Brexit had not occurred, with negative impacts increasing during 2023.

The UK government has again delayed implementing post-Brexit physical checks on “medium risk” fruit and vegetables imported from the EU which were due to begin on 1 January next year. DEFRA has announced the checks will be postponed until 1 July to allow the new government to consult with stakeholders involved in the import supply chain on the potential impact of the regulation. The move comes after a warning from the UK's food supply chain that the new checks will add over £300m costs to the fruit and vegetable industry, resulting in higher consumer prices.

Jenny Brunton, of the British Agriculture Bureau says that because of new EU deforestation regulations (EUDR), beef sold in Northern Ireland from 1 January cannot come from cattle raised on land that has been deforested to make space for grazing. Ms Brunton adds that GB farmers will need to show they are not using animal feed that contains soy or palm oil which is driving deforestation abroad. The Irish Independent claims the new regulation has raised fears of a ‘hard beef border’ between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.