Meat Management Column: We need answers
It was rather bizarre recently responding to the Government’s 2025 borders consultation which had a deadline in August. It is all very well that they want to have the best border in the world by 2025 – that is something we can get behind and indeed members have discussed ways in which the border could be improved over the years including progress on electronic documentation and more risk-based checks at port. However, it is odd that they are consulting on that when many of the details about our 2021 border are still outstanding!
Companies in the main don’t have their own Brexit preparedness staff, they have finance, ops, logistics, sales, marketing and all those have a specialism and it isn’t in contending with the shifting sands of Brexit policy. However, many have done an incredible job at becoming expert and juggling that with their day job as well as contending with coronavirus. Their task is not made easier by the fact that this close to the end of the year there are still so many outstanding questions that we are waiting on government (and/or the negotiations) to deliver answers on. Government shouldn’t forget that businesses already have a day job to do and they do it very well as showcased by the recent Meat Management Industry Awards!
As a trade association we endeavour to be that extension of member companies to provide digestible content to allow companies to do their day jobs. My colleague Katrina Walsh is leading the delivery of a comprehensive programme of briefing sessions on all manner of Brexit topics and my colleague Dan Soper has developed an excellent Preparing for January 1st Guidance Pack for members. We are continuing to develop resources to cut through the disparate government communications that can be found on the notoriously unnavigable gov.uk website.
Not only is it a challenge now for businesses of preparing in time but also of preparing at the same time – companies all needing to rush to their packaging providers, customs/logistics providers or to vets for certification when certain detail is confirmed. With 2 or 3 rehearsals for this in previous potential cliff-edges you’d think we would have got the details nailed by now but we are still awaiting Ministerial policy decisions on many crucial areas.
In the meantime, we will continue to seek the much-needed answers from government on the detail outstanding and providing briefing sessions on the known details to help companies to also do their day job. I am writing this article in the week where the government has put forward its controversial Internal Market Bill, which precipitated emergency EU-UK talks followed by very strong statements from the EU about talks and it is very difficult to see what happens next. I hope that by the time this goes to press there is more hope of a deal. Though vet checks, certification and customs requirements come in deal or no deal, the difference in tariffs could be substantial without a deal.