Brexit: Border controls provide food for thought

VillageIdiot71

I don't understand why there isn't more coverage of the immediate impact of Brexit on Irish supermarket supply chains. There's a lot of coverage of potential problems in Northern Ireland, for example

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-54934009

From 1 January, Northern Ireland will remain inside the EU single market for goods and the rest of the UK will be outside.

That means all these controls should apply on every supermarket lorry crossing the Irish Sea from GB to NI.

We have much the same supermarkets, stocking much the same products through the same supply route through the UK.

So the problem of continuing being supplied in this way when Britain leaves the Single Market applies to us, too. Our Minister for Foreign Affairs even seems to acknowledge this

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/coveney-we-have-a-week-to-do-a-brexit-trade-deal-with-uk-1.4406771

Meanwhile, Mr Coveney told the European Movement Ireland that concerns about disruptions to food supplies from Britain post-Brexit are not just a problem for Northern Ireland but “an issue for the island as a whole”.

I can understand the desire to avoid this being used as a negotiating ploy. But it looks like something that needs a fairly explicit safety net, if we want to avoid disruption.

Kermit.de.frog

Tricky enough here for some products but the north is far more reliant than we are on British food imports. It potentially means Sainsbury's and Asda leaving the north for example due to the cost and time consuming nature of having to manage the sea border controls with the paperwork.

Kermit.de.frog

Not food but...

https://twitter.com/Flaagan/status/1327682799822909448


:P

gadarnol

Express claiming Johnson has caved in and a Brexit deal done. Hence the departures.

Hamsterchops

Regarding Northern Ireland's Supermarket food supplies, well either things work out as per EU law and all food stuffs coming from GB into NI get extra tarrifs & delays as per the agreement, or.....

Boris gets his way and the UK internal market override is inserted, thereby allowing the internal UK market to continue as before, but this breaks international law :cool:

So what I can see happening is that the official Brexit law will apply to NI food stuffs, hence Sainsbury, Asda, Waitrose & Morrisons will pull out of Northern Ireland, leaving exactly the same supermarket players and choice as here in the ROI, hence all NI supplies will hto from South > North and they will have exactly the same supermarkets as us.

GB supermarkets will then be totally separate to the market NI which will be incorporated into the Irish chain of supplies which come through Dublin & Rosslare ports.

McMurphy

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Not food but...

https://twitter.com/Flaagan/status/1327682799822909448


:P

Gerry Adams forced to deny ever having had an Amazon account.

VillageIdiot71

Hamsterchops wrote: »

Regarding Northern Ireland's Supermarket food supplies, well either things work out as per EU law and all food stuffs coming from GB into NI get extra tarrifs & delays as per the agreement, or.....

Boris gets his way and the UK internal market override is inserted, thereby allowing the internal UK market to continue as before, but this breaks international law :cool:

So what I can see happening is that the official Brexit law will apply to NI food stuffs, hence Sainsbury, Asda, Waitrose & Morrisons will pull out of Northern Ireland, leaving exactly the same supermarket players and choice as here in the ROI, hence all NI supplies will hto from South > North and they will have exactly the same supermarkets as us.

GB supermarkets will then be totally separate to the market NI which will be incorporated into the Irish chain of supplies which come through Dublin & Rosslare ports.

Grand, so far as it goes, except a lot of our supply chain is still embedded in and through the UK. If you look even at products in Aldi and Lidl, you'll see indications that show we are (for many purposes) supplied by them out of the same stock as the UK. Bearing in mind that, for most of the period since their decision to leave, no-one really expected that UK would be leaving the Single Market - not in substance, at any rate.

So, tbh, I don't think we avoid the problem if there's no deal. I'm not clear on where the contingency has been made to suddenly switch the supply of (say) Dutch fruit and veg to a direct service through Rosslare from the start of next year.