New Brexit border controls will leave British consumers and businesses facing more than £500m in increased costs and possible delays – as well as shortages of food and fresh flowers imported from the European Union.
The new rules are intended to protect biosecurity by imposing controls on plant and animal products considered a “medium” risk. These include five categories of cut flowers, cheese and other dairy produce, chilled and frozen meat, and fish.
From 31 January, each shipment will have to be accompanied by a health certificate, provided by a local vet in the case of animal produce, and, from 30 April, shipments will be subject to physical checks at the British border.
The government’s modelling says the new controls will cost industry £330m, while the grocery industry has warned that £200m could be added to fresh fruit and vegetable prices should checks be introduced in the future.
There is also the prospect of delays caused by inspections of faulty paperwork, which could derail supply chains that rely entirely on fast turnaround of goods.
European companies and industry groups say the controls are unnecessary as they replicate checks already made in the EU, and that Brexit is adding bureaucracy and cost to dealing with the UK.
The new import controls are a consequence of Britain having left both the single market and the customs union when the trade and co-operation deal with the EU came into force in January 2021.
While UK exporters to Europe were immediately subject to customs rules, the British government waived import controls to avoid damaging the economy and food supply.
On five occasions since 2021 ministers planned and then cancelled their introduction, in part because of fears that interrupting food supplies from the EU would exacerbate the cost of living crisis.
Almost 80% of UK vegetable imports and 40% of fruit comes from Europe.
In the Netherlands, the horticulture industry has called for a further delay to controls that will impact its £1bn-a-year trade with the UK, the second largest in Europe behind Germany, which accounts for around 90% of our cut flower and plant imports.
‘We’re going back in time’
Dutch flower wholesaler Heemskerk has been exporting to the UK since before it joined the common market.
The UK now requires that five types of flowers, including orchids and carnations, be checked in factories by a local inspector for two species of leaf mites that destroy foliage.
Managing director Nick van Bommel points out that the checks replicate the same processes made at the Dutch border if the plants are imported to Europe, and by his staff for trade within the EU.
Image: Managing director of Dutch flower wholesaler Heemskerk Nick van Bommel
“We’re going back in time. They want to have health inspections that we haven’t carried out for more than thirty years, and now from next week on we start again,” he said.
“It won’t help anybody, but it will make an awful lot of costs and somebody has to pay the bill at the end. I’m 100% sure that the last customer, the British consumer, has to pay for this.”
The Dutch association of floriculture wholesalers has asked the British government to delay the changes by another year.
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Its spokesperson Tim Rozendaal told Sky News: “If Brexit was about cutting down Brussels’s red tape and bringing down costs, I don’t see the point.
“Anything that our industry has been facing since Brexit is longer red tape, additional costs and bureaucracy.”
At New Covent Garden Market in London, which receives shipments from the Netherlands within hours of flowers being cut, wholesalers are equally sceptical.
Freddie Heathcote, owner of Green & Bloom, calculates his shipping costs will rise by up to 17% – and the knock-on to consumers could be increases of 20% to 50% once the physical inspection regime is in place.
Image: Freddie Heathcote, owner of Green & Bloom
“We have been told the charge for consignments crossing at Dover or Folkestone will be £20 to £43 per category item listed on the consignment.
“We imported 28 different consignment lines tonight from one supplier, which would be £560 to £1,204 to clear the border control point on a total invoice of £7,000. That’s between 8% and 17% additional cost on an average import for us.”
The food industry is concerned too.
Patricia Michelson, founder of London cheese chain La Fromagerie, has been importing artisan cheese from across Europe for more than 40 years. She is concerned that the cost and hassle of sourcing veterinary checks in Europe will dissuade some suppliers.
Image: Patricia Michelson, founder of London cheese chain La Fromagerie
“We deal with suppliers who are one or two guys in a dairy with 50 or 100 sheep or 20 cows. Do they want to be paying for this new certificate to send to us?
“I assure you that most of them will say no. So the onus is on us… that means another extra cost, on top of all the costs so far to bring the produce in.”
Image: La Fromagerie
‘Disturbing confusion’
After months of preparation this week the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs added a host of common fruit and vegetables to the list of medium risk produce.
It initially said the produce would only face physical checks from October, but 48 hours later changed the rules again, saying they would give three months notice when health declarations and physical checks are required.
The late change attracted criticism from leading trade body the Institute of Export and International Trade.
“The confusion caused by the announcement… is disturbing, particularly at a point when significant changes are being planned for the general operation of the UK border,” said its general secretary Marco Forgione.
A government spokesman said: “We are committed to delivering the most advanced border in the world. The Border Target Operating Model is key to delivering this, protecting the UK’s biosecurity from potentially harmful pests and diseases and maintaining trust in our exports.
“We are taking a phased approach – including initially not requiring pre-notification and inspections for EU medium risk fruit and vegetables and other medium risk goods – to support businesses and ensure the efficient trade is maintained between the EU and Great Britain.”
The boss of Ryanair has told Sky News the president of the European Commission should “quit” if she can’t stop disruption caused by repeated French air traffic control strikes.
Michael O’Leary, the group chief executive of Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, said in an interview with Business Live that Ursula von der Leyen had failed to get to grips, at an EU level, with interruption to overflights following several recent disputes in France.
The latest action began on Thursday and is due to conclude later today, forcing thousands of flights to be delayed and cancelled through French airspace closures.
Mr O’Leary told presenter Darren McCaffrey that French domestic flights were given priority during ATC strikes and other nations, including Italy and Greece, had solved the problem through minimum service legislation.
He claimed that the vast majority of flights, cancelled over two days of action that began on Thursday, would have been able to operate under similar rules.
Mr O’Leary said of the EU’s role: “We continue to call on Ursula von der Leyen – why are you not protecting these overflights, why is the single market for air travel being disrupted by a tiny number of French air traffic controllers?
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Image: Ryanair has cancelled more than 400 flights over two days due to the action in France. File pic: PA
“All we get is a shrug of their shoulders and ‘there’s nothing we can do’. We point out, there is.”
He added: “We are calling on Ursula von der Leyen, who preaches about competitiveness and reforming Europe, if you’re not willing to protect or fix overflights then quit and let somebody more effective do the job.”
The strike is estimated, by the Airlines for Europe lobby group to have led to at least 1,500 cancelled flights, leaving 300,000 travellers unable to make their journeys.
Image: Michael O’Leary believes the EU can take action on competition grounds. Pic: PA
Ryanair itself had axed more than 400 flights so far, Mr O’Leary said. Rival easyJet said on Thursday that it had cancelled 274 services over the two days.
The beginning of July marks the start of the European summer holiday season.
The French civil aviation agency DGAC had already told airlines to cancel 40% of flights covering the three main Paris airports on Friday ahead of the walkout – a dispute over staffing levels and equipment quality.
Mr O’Leary described those safety issues as “nonsense” and said twhile the controllers had a right to strike, they did not have the right to close the sky.
DGAC has warned of delays and further severe disruption heading into the weekend.
Many planes and crews will be out of position.
Mr O’Leary is not alone in expressing his frustration.
The French transport minister Philippe Tabarot has denounced the action and the reasons for it.
“The idea is to disturb as many people as possible,” he said in an interview with CNews.
Passengers are being advised that if your flight is cancelled, the airline must either give you a refund or book you on an alternative flight.
If you have booked a return flight and the outbound leg is cancelled, you can claim the full cost of the return ticket back from your airline.
The CBI has begun a search for a successor to Rupert Soames, its chairman, as it continues its recovery from the crisis which brought it to the brink of collapse in 2023.
Sky News has learnt that the business lobbying group’s nominations committee has engaged headhunters to assist with a hunt for its next corporate figurehead.
Mr Soames, the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill, was recruited by the CBI in late 2023 with the organisation lurching towards insolvency after an exodus of members.
The group’s handling of a sexual misconduct scandal saw it forced to secure emergency funding from a group of banks, even as it was frozen out of meetings with government ministers.
One prominent CBI member described Mr Soames on Thursday as the group’s “saviour”.
“Without his ability to bring members back, the organisation wouldn’t exist today,” they claimed.
Mr Soames and Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI chief executive, have partly restored its influence in Whitehall, although many doubt that it will ever be able to credibly reclaim its former status as ‘the voice of British business’.
Its next chair, who is also likely to be drawn from a leading listed company boardroom, will take over from Mr Soames early next year.
Egon Zehnder International is handling the search for the CBI.
“The CBI chair’s term typically runs for two years and Rupert Soames will end his term in early 2026,” a CBI spokesperson said.
“In line with good governance, we have begun the search for a successor to ensure continuity and a smooth transition.”
Ryanair and easyJet have cancelled hundreds of flights as a French air traffic controllers strike looms.
Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, said it had axed 170 services amid a plea by French authorities for airlines to reduce flights at Paris airports by 40% on Friday.
EasyJet said it was cancelling 274 flights during the action, which is due to begin later as part of a row over staffing numbers and ageing equipment.
The owner of British Airways, IAG, said it was planning to use larger aircraft to minimise disruption for its own passengers.
The industrial action is set to affect all flights using French airspace, leading to wider cancellations and delays across Europe and the wider world.
Ryanair said its cancellations, covering both days, would hit services to and from France, and also flights over the country to destinations such as the UK, Greece, Spain and Ireland.
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Group chief executive Michael O’Leary has campaigned for a European Union-led shake-up of air traffic control services in a bid to prevent such disruptive strikes, which have proved common in recent years.
He described the latest action as “recreational”.
Image: Michael O’Leary. Pic: Reuters
“Once again, European families are held to ransom by French air traffic controllers going on strike,” he said.
“It is not acceptable that overflights over French airspace en route to their destination are being cancelled/delayed as a result of yet another French ATC strike.
“It makes no sense and is abundantly unfair on EU passengers and families going on holidays.”
Ryanair is demanding the EU ensure that air traffic services are fully staffed for the first wave of daily departures, as well as to protect overflights during national strikes.
“These two splendid reforms would eliminate 90% of all ATC delays and cancellations, and protect EU passengers from these repeated and avoidable ATC disruptions due to yet another French ATC strike,” Mr O’Leary added.