Displaying items by tag: EU red tape

The international trade secretary, Liz Truss, has admitted Brexit led to food shortages in Northern Ireland after weeks of disruption. Her cabinet colleague Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, had argued that the coronavirus crisis was solely to blame for the shortages, but Ms Truss contradicted him, blaming both issues. Meanwhile, a row broke out between the UK and EU after the Foreign Office refused to grant the bloc’s ambassador in London the same diplomatic status afforded to representatives of individual nation states. Also, anger is building among manufacturers as EU customers cancel orders due to Brexit red tape.

On 18 January more than twenty shellfish trucks parked just metres from Boris Johnson’s Downing Street office and the British parliament to protest against the post-Brexit bureaucracy that has stopped them exporting to the EU. Many Scottish fishermen have not been able to export their stocks to Europe since the start of the year after the introduction of catch certificates, health checks and customs declarations added lengthy delays to their delivery times, prompting European buyers to reject them. A director of Venture Seafoods, which exports live and processed crabs and lobsters to the EU. said he had cancelled several lorries due to the onerous red tape involved. One operator needed 400 pages of export documentation last week to board a ferry to the EU. He warned the system could collapse.