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UK explores fourth delay to imposing checks on EU imports

Warnings from industry of supply chain disaster if full post-Brexit border controls are imposed on July 1

Downing Street is exploring yet another delay to post-Brexit border checks on goods entering Britain from the EU to prevent what industry has warned would be a supply chain disaster.

Ministers are considering whether to push back for the fourth time the introduction of full checks on imports from the EU, which were supposed to come into effect on July 1, as part of a drive to tackle trade friction and the crisis in the cost of living, officials briefed on discussions said.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, Brexit opportunities minister, argued at a private meeting this week that one advantage of leaving the EU would be to allow Britain to apply only loose checks on imports. Goods arriving from the EU are not subject to safety and security declarations, while food and plant products are not physically checked.

Senior figures in Number 10 are “sympathetic” to the idea of further delays beyond July for the new checks, according to the officials.

Boris Johnson, the prime minister, has not yet made a firm decision but is being urged to extend the “grace period” for EU imports by Rees-Mogg and former Brexit minister Lord David Frost.

British exports to the EU have been subjected to the full panoply of EU border checks since the first day of Brexit in January 2020 — while imports from European competitors have enjoyed a far smoother entry into the UK.

Britain’s trade performance has recovered from the pandemic much more slowly than equivalent developed economies.

The Office for Budget Responsibility, the independent fiscal watchdog, last week held to its assumption that “leaving the EU will result in the UK’s total imports and exports being 15 per cent lower than had the UK remained a member state”.

https://www.ft.com/content/53636e5d-...c-a827d4b551a0