Jacob Rees-Mogg, the UK’s Brexit minister, defended his decision to postpone full border checks for the fourth time since Brexit on EU imports, saying it would save £ 1bn a year and control rising living costs. .
Port operators have been critical, saying the £ 100m they spent on preparations for the July 1 inspections “already looks like a waste of time, effort and money” and will seek reimbursement from the government.
Meanwhile, the British Veterinary Association and farmers’ leaders say dangerous animal and plant diseases could enter the country through an effectively open border.
Checks have now been postponed until at least the end of 2023. But Reese-Mogh allies have said they hope physical checks at the border – with the exception of some on-site animal checks – will never be needed and that a new digital trading system should entered into force in 2024
Reese-Mogg, in an interview with the Financial Times, said he was “on the consumer side”, arguing that new border checks would add pressure on household accounts; the price of groceries rose 5.9% in one year, according to data released this week.
The policy means that while EU companies can sell on the UK market without burdensome health and safety checks – especially on agri-food products – British exporters face a full set of post-Brexit checks on goods traveling the other way.
Reese-Mogg insisted that “one-way free trade is extremely useful”, adding that the move would protect consumers from additional costs and help ensure a smooth supply for UK companies using EU imports.
He said he would prefer two-way free trade, but added: “Just because a country has protectionism doesn’t mean you have to be protectionist. The EU has always been a protectionist racket. “
Speaking during a visit to the Eurotunnel in Folkestone, the minister mocked many of the inspections scheduled for July 1st.
He said they would increase the price of fish fingers by 1 percent. “Why add to the cost of the basics of people’s lives?” He said. “What is the risk of fish soil?”
Ministers smuggled previous reports of delays in import checks into the EU in minor press releases, but Rees-Mogg now proudly claims that opening Britain’s borders is a major benefit of Brexit.
In practice, this means that since Brexit, the UK has relied in part on the EU to maintain high standards for goods and animals entering the United Kingdom. Reese-Mogg said the EU was a “highly regulated market”.
Ultimately, he wants to reduce border controls and tariffs on most trade entering the UK, including from outside the EU, although International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan says these are privileges that need to be negotiated. in trade agreements.
James Russell, senior vice-president of the British Veterinary Association, said the government’s move was in line with ministers’ commitment to maintaining high levels of animal and human health at a time when diseases such as African swine fever were already having a catastrophic impact. from Europe.
Minet Butters, president of the National Agrarian Union, said the decision was “surprising” and “unacceptable”. “These inspections are absolutely crucial for national biosecurity, animal health and food safety, and without them we are really at risk,” she said.
Tim Morris, chief executive of the UK Major Ports Group, said port operators feared the facilities they built would be “white elephants to order.”
“The government must urgently engage with ports to agree on how to restore significant investments made in good faith,” he said. “Of course, we will work closely with the government on its new vision of a thinner and smaller border control regime.
Without delay, from 1 July, so-called sanitary and phytosanitary inspections will require EU imports of animals and agricultural products to be checked by veterinarians and other health professionals on arrival in the United Kingdom.
Instead, these checks will continue to be carried out “at the destination”, far from the border. EU imports will also not be required to have the accompanying “safety and security declarations” or health certificates required for UK goods arriving in the EU.
The inspections were first postponed in June 2020 after the Covid-19 pandemic began to bite, followed by further extensions in March 2021 and September 2021.
Trade groups generally welcomed the move, but also expressed disappointment with the ongoing relocation of the beams, which an insider said cost time and money.
Dominique Goody, head of international trade at the Food and Beverage Federation, a leading producer in the sector, welcomed the clarity the decision had given the industry and called on the government to use the time to streamline border processes.
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A spokesman for the European Commission said: “This is a decision of the United Kingdom regarding its own border and therefore we have no comment.
Reese-Mogg became a leading cheerleader in Boris Johnson’s deregulation cabinet; this week he called on Britain to unilaterally abolish tariffs on food imports. Travellian said he was against the idea.
He also wants to lift restrictions on trade between Britain and Northern Ireland, in breach of Britain’s Brexit agreement, arguing that it is “unlikely” that the EU will respond with a trade war.
The minister, who recently made news of his campaign to return civil servants to their Whitehall offices, showed reporters a photo of a cabinet department – based in the Treasury building – with “absolutely no one there”.
Additional reports from Andy Bounds in Brussels
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