The UK government is considering easing post-Brexit border checks on food and other imports from the EU amid concerns that they may damage trade and result in serious shortages in British supermarkets, The Observer reports.

The newspaper has quoted unnamed government sources as saying that Brexit Minister David Frost may allow “lighter touch” controls on EU imports as of 1 April.  

He is also reportedly mulling scaling down plans for full customs checks, including physical inspections, set to come into force on 1 July.

According to one of the sources, Frost is calling for “a review of the timetable to ensure that we are not imposing unnecessary burdens on business” although it was “early in the process and no decisions have been made”.

Another insider expressed alarm that if the government goes ahead with more checks on imports, exporters will be unprepared “and on this side we are not ready for that either”.

“We have already seen exports badly affected. The next nightmare could be imports”, the source warned.

The remarks came after Chancellor Rishi Sunak told The Observer that the Cabinet tried to address the issue, adding, “the systems and IT are all on track but we are keeping everything under review to make sure it is all as smooth as possible”.

He spoke after a survey conducted by the UK’s Food and Drink Federation last week revealed a 45% drop in the country’s exports since 1 January.

Economists, however, say that it remains unclear whether the decline in UK-EU trade is the result of the post-Brexit deal or fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I have a hard time deciding what is the impact of Brexit and what is simply down to the impact of coronavirus. […]   There were so many stories about companies that had trouble exporting or importing after Brexit and a lot of hauliers were reluctant to deal with the customs issues, so there must have been an impact”, Gilles Moec, chief economist with the French insurer Axa, was cited by the Financial Times as saying.

In late December, London and Brussels finally concluded a trade and cooperation agreement that specifically stipulates zero tariffs on the movement of goods between British and European markets.
Since the deal came into force on 1 January, there have been reports about EU-UK trade being disrupted by “higher shipping costs, transportation delays, health certificate requirements, and more complex customs requirements at the border”.

Ministers are to step up the war with the EU Commissioner known as ‘Calamity Kyriakides’ by blocking imports of fashionable mineral waters such as San Pellegrino and Perrier.

Environment Secretary George Eustice has been so infuriated by Brussels’ ban on supplies of shellfish from the UK that he is planning to end Britain’s ‘rollover recognition’ of natural mineral waters from the EU in retaliation.

At the centre of the row is Stella Kyriakides, the EU Commissioner also responsible for the debacle over EU vaccine supplies.

Brands such as the Italian San Pellegrino and Perrier and Evian from France are hugely popular in the UK. Under the Bottled Waters Regulations of 2007, waters sold in the UK should comply with maximum limits on a total of 15 different constituents

‘Calamity Kyriakides’, as she is known in Whitehall, has refused demands from Mr Eustice to meet to resolve the dispute over shellfish.

It is one of a number of post-Brexit trading problems, including the severe disruption to supplies of plants such as snowdrops from the UK mainland to Northern Ireland – Brussels claims that sending plants with earth attached to the roots risks ‘biocontamination’.

Downing Street was left furious last month when the EU suddenly announced a ban on the export of live mussels, oysters, clams and cockles in what is being viewed as an act of ‘petty revenge’ for Brexit.

The European Commission said that it would not accept crustaceans fished from Britain’s so-called ‘Class B’ waters, which account for the vast majority of the produce, on the grounds of ‘purity’ – despite correspondence between Whitehall that appears to show Brussels had assured the UK that the exports would be allowed if accompanied by the right health certificate.

Now Ministers say they are looking again at enforcing British regulations on the contents of bottled water. Currently the Government observes the rollover recognition, but if No 10 decides to end it then the producers would have to apply for the right to continue to sell them on the UK market.

Brands such as the Italian San Pellegrino and Perrier and Evian from France are hugely popular in the UK. Under the Bottled Waters Regulations of 2007, waters sold in the UK should comply with maximum limits on a total of 15 different constituents.

One source said: ‘We have until now turned a blind eye to the compliance of these waters as a quid pro quo.’

The ban on plants or vegetables potted in British soil or with traces of soil under the terms of the Brexit Protocol on Northern Ireland has caused problems for garden centres in the province.

On Friday, the Government moved to unilaterally ease the restriction by temporarily lifting the ban.

Last month, a Government Minister told The Mail on Sunday that the rows were due to Brussels ‘trying to punish us for daring to become a nation state.’

Mr Eustice said: ‘We put in place temporary arrangements and easements to assist EU exporters of mineral waters… but have always reserved our position on how to approach these issues in future’.

… rewrite plans for spending the European Union funds aimed at rebuilding the … than 200 billion euros of EU funds and revive the pandemic … already prepared by the other EU countries and to provide …

Ministers are preparing to relax post-Brexit plans for border checks on food and other imports from the European Union because of fears that they will further damage trade and could lead to severe shortages in UK supermarkets.

The Observer has been told by multiple industry sources that Boris Johnson’s new Brexit minister, Lord Frost, is considering allowing “lighter touch” controls on imports from 1 April than are currently planned, and scaling back plans for full customs checks, including physical inspections, which are due to begin on 1 July.

One source said he had been told that Frost was preparing to put the plans, which could mean imports being allowed in even if clerical errors have been made by European companies, before fellow cabinet ministers this week, as evidence grows of how Brexit has hit trade with the EU.

A Downing Street source confirmed on Saturday night that Frost had already ordered “a review of the timetable to ensure that we are not imposing unnecessary burdens on business” but added that it was “early in the process and no decisions have been made”.

With UK exporters to the EU having been severely hit by new rules, regulations and costs of operating under the post-Brexit regime, business organisations and senior figures in Whitehall now fear that EU exporters to the UK – particularly those involved with food – could be even less prepared than their UK counterparts were at the start of this year.

A big worry is that delays resulting from checks could hit food supplies including the “just in time” delivery network.

One senior industry figure said: “The worry is that if we go ahead with more checks and move to checks on imports, then exporters will not be prepared and on this side we are not ready for that either. There is not the infrastructure in place yet or the number of customs officials necessary to carry all this out. We have already seen exports badly affected. The next nightmare could be imports.”

While the Cabinet Office, run by Michael Gove, has attempted to downplay the effects of Brexit on UK trade, a survey last week by the Food and Drink Federation of its members that send goods to the EU found a 45% drop in exports since 1 January.

Asked by the Observer on Friday if he was confident that plans for more checks on imports from the EU could go ahead from 1 April and 1 July, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, said: “We are working through these things with the joint committee and I think we are looking at everything. If there are problems we are trying to address them. The systems and IT are all on track but we are keeping everything under review to make sure it is all as smooth as possible.”

While a key claim of Brexiters was always that Brexit would mean “regaining control of our borders”, doing so has proved hugely problematic since the UK left the single market and customs union on 1 January.

In order to give businesses time to adapt the government decided that imports into the UK from the EU could operate as normal until 1 April. From that date, under current plans, all items of animal origin such as meat, honey, milk or egg products, as well as regulated plants and plant products, will require full documentation and, where necessary, veterinary certificates to be sold in the UK. From 1 July, all companies exporting to the UK will be required to fill out full customs declarations and goods could be subjected to physical checks at new UK customs centres.

Richard Burnett, the chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, said: “We are hearing from government that they are going to take a ‘light touch’ approach to the next phase, or perhaps even an extension of the grace period. Although this is sensible to continue the uninterrupted flow of food products from the EU into Great Britain, I am concerned that it weakens the government’s negotiating leverage when asking for similar easements from the EU for UK businesses attempting to trade with them.”

In a further sign of post-Brexit problems, Gove last week announced that grace periods to allow lighter enforcement on EU rules over supermarket goods, pharmaceuticals, chilled meats and parcels from Great Britain into Northern Ireland should be extended to January 2023.

Some of the current waivers are due to cease at the end of March, raising fears about further border disruption. The issue of the new border in the Irish Sea has caused renewed tensions in Northern Ireland, while also worsening already poor relations with Brussels, which is considering legal action against the UK for breaking Brexit agreements.

Frost, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, has called on Brussels to “shake off any remaining ill will” towards the UK for leaving and argued the government is acting legally to protect the everyday lives of people in Northern Ireland. “I hope they will shake off any remaining ill will towards us for leaving, and instead build a friendly relationship, between sovereign equals.”

In its report accompanying last week’s budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility repeated its view that the additional trade barriers caused by Brexit would reduce UK productivity in the long run by about 4%.

On Saturday night the shadow Cabinet Office minister, Rachel Reeves, wrote to the OBR’s chair, Richard Hughes, asking him to publish details of its assessment of the economic effects of the trade deal with the EU, including its effect on exports and different regions of the UK.

Referring to the OBR’s estimate of a 4% fall in productivity, Reeves told Hughes: “This is extremely concerning and that concern is compounded by the government’s lack of response in addressing or even acknowledging this gap.”

European Union (EU) Ambassador to Guyana Fernando Ponz Cantó is hoping for a peaceful resolution to the latest tensions between Guyana and Venezuela.

Speaking to reporters during an interview at his Sendell Place, Stabroek office on Thursday afternoon, Cantó said that the EU always supports international law. “We are supporting international law not only on this problem but on every problem and of course we also support respect for each other’s territorial integrity,” the Ambassador said.

He stated that the EU has also encouraged “peaceful and not violent” resolutions of these matters.