Brexit News – Live: Checks will 'make it easier to trade with China than with France' as food producers brace for rising costs

Cabinet minister Victoria Atkins said leaving the EU was a “seismic moment in British politics” and that “something of this magnitude will take time to sink in”.

The health secretary told reporters the coronavirus vaccine rollout was an example of Britain's ability to move faster than the EU after leaving the bloc.

She said: “I would like to give you one very positive example of how we have been able to bring real change to society by being free from the EU, and that is of course through the vaccination program during COVID-19. It was something.

“We were able to come out of lockdown faster than any other country because we were able to take decisions about our vaccination program and implement them just as quickly.”

He argued that the pharmaceutical industry sees the UK's position outside the EU as “a real game changer for the industry” and that “I think there will be some really exciting opportunities over the next few years”.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has expressed concern about the “undue impact of fees” that could fall on small businesses when border checks are carried out on April 30.

Tina McKenzie, the group's policy chair, said: “We are concerned that some small UK importers are still unaware of the import checks that came into effect on January 31st.” said.

While we have urged small and medium-sized businesses to prepare for this change and discuss it with their EU suppliers, the UK Government will continue to closely monitor its implementation over the coming days and weeks and ensure that any issues affecting trade flows are addressed. Steps must be taken to address this.

“Collective shipments, often used by small and medium-sized enterprises that import small quantities, are particularly vulnerable to disruption.

“With regard to physical checks, which will come into force from April, there are concerns that check fees will disproportionately impact small and medium-sized enterprises, and that there will be confusion over how checks are implemented, which could affect the quality of imported goods. We would like to see clarity from the government on these areas as soon as possible.”

The FSB is the largest organization representing small and medium-sized businesses in the UK, with around 200,000 members.

A new Ipsos Mori poll found that 57% of respondents said Brexit was more of a failure than a success.

The poll also revealed that 13% of people consider it more of a success than a failure.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has attacked Rishi Sunak's new Brexit deal with the DUP, warning it could lock Britain into EU rules on trade in goods in the future.

Mr Sunak's government has hammered out a deal with the DUP to scrap routine checks on goods shipped from Britain to Northern Ireland in a bid to restore power-sharing at Stormont.

The so-called 'green lane' process – which requires some goods arriving from the UK to be checked in NI – will be rebranded as the 'UK Domestic Market System'.

New post-Brexit import checks on food and plant products are “anti-SME” and have significantly increased red tape, making it now easier to import from China than from France.

Paolo Arrigo, managing director of Seeds of Italy, told The Independent that the industry previously had “freedom” during the UK's membership in the EU, but it had devolved into a “bureaucratic nightmare”. He said he did.

He said the new rules would raise four significant problems. Delays, reduced consumer choice, increased costs, and increased bureaucracy.

“For the UK seed industry this is devastating and will only add further bureaucracy and unnecessary costs… We are a small business with six employees so we need the additional There is no need to spend time creating documents.

“If you're a large company with thousands of employees, you can just hire someone to sort out the additional measures you need, but for small businesses it's a real waste of time.”

Arrigo added: “If we had stayed in the single market, we wouldn't have even a fraction of the problems we're seeing now.”

He said trade with continental Europe has become increasingly difficult since the UK left the EU.

“When we first started doing this nonsense, two deliveries were sent back to Italy, one because the palette was wrong, and one with the correct color black. It was returned because it wasn't properly inspected. When we had freedom of trade, we didn't have these problems.”

Nigel Jenny, from the Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC), warned that post-Brexit checks on food and plant importers would increase costs for businesses.

“The £200 million is essentially tax money for the UK government to manage this process,” he told BBC Breakfast.

He added that these cost increases would be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices for fresh produce.

The UK government has been accused by DUP MPs of being short, weak and “defying Brexit”.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Sammy Wilson, MP for East Antrim, said: “When the Northern Ireland Parliament sits, ministers and MPs are expected by law to comply with and enforce the laws made in Brussels. “I had no say in this law.” And there is no ability to fix or stop it.

“This is the result of this spineless, limp, Brexit-traitoring government that refuses to intervene in the EU and Northern Ireland.”

He added: “Will Northern Ireland prove capable of maintaining its ties with the UK, or will the Government be willing to push ahead with legislative changes regardless of the impact on Northern Ireland?”

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said: “As we mark the fourth anniversary of our departure from the European Union, I want to reassure him that this set of agreed measures will not change the freedoms and powers we have secured through Brexit and the Windsor Framework. I can say it clearly.”

Labor has said it will reconsider its trade relationship with Brussels if businesses are “struggling” to get new checks if it wins this year's expected general election.

Tulip Siddique, the shadow finance minister, told Sky News:

“We're going to look at where businesses are struggling, where the economy is struggling, and see if we can get a better deal for our country.

“That's what the person in charge should do.

“They (voters) may have voted to leave the European Union, but they didn't vote to get a bad deal.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that the current deal will be watered down four years after Brexit took effect.

It comes as the government plans to publish details of its agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), setting the stage for the return of Stormont's power-sharing institutions.

But some Conservatives fear that post-Brexit Britain's freedoms could limit its ability to diverge from EU rules.

In a post on X, the former prime minister harshly criticized “artificial” concerns about the island of Ireland's border and warned against returning to the kind of deal unsuccessfully promoted by Prime Minister Theresa May.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he said: “Four years after Brexit, we celebrate the restoration of our country's democratic power to make our own laws and rules.

“With these Brexit freedoms, we will introduce improved standards for animal welfare, reduce tax on sanitary products, bring greater flexibility to cutting-edge industries from financial services to bioscience, and unlock many global freedoms. We struck a trade deal, and that was at least partly because of Brexit.''The country was the first in Europe to roll out coronavirus vaccines.

“We must maintain the desire and courage to depart from the low-growth, highly regulated European model.

“At all costs, we must avoid a return to something like the disastrous 'checkers' system, where artificial concerns about the Northern Ireland-Irish border are used to force the whole of the UK into compliance with EU rules. It must be done.”

Cabinet minister Victoria Atkins said leaving the EU was a “seismic moment in British politics” and that “something of this magnitude will take time to sink in”.

The health secretary told reporters the coronavirus vaccine rollout was an example of Britain's ability to move faster than the EU after leaving the bloc.

She said: “I would like to give you one very positive example of how we have been able to bring real change to society by being free from the EU, and that is of course through the vaccination program during COVID-19. It was something.

“We were able to come out of lockdown faster than any other country because we were able to take decisions about our vaccination program and implement them just as quickly.”

He argued that the pharmaceutical industry sees the UK's position outside the EU as “a real game changer for the industry” and that “I think there will be some really exciting opportunities in the coming years”.