Small businesses have warned that new post-Brexit checks mean it is easier to import from China than it is to trade with France, as food producers brace themselves for escalating costs.
The new rules implemented today mean that health certificates will now be needed on a wide range of EU goods such as meat, fruit and vegetables. A further system for physical checks at the border is coming into force on 30 April.
Nigel Jenny from the Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) warned that the checks for food and plant importers is essentially a £200million tax on the industry and it will increase prices for consumers.
Paolo Arrigo, managing director of Seeds of Italy, told The Independent that the new checks were “anti-small business” and that it was now easier to import from China than France.
Conservative health minister Dame Andrea Leadsom however played down concerns about more red tape, saying that checks at the UK/EU border are the “price you pay” for leaving the EU.
She told Times Radio: “It was very clear in the Brexit discussions a long time ago now, today is the fourth anniversary of leaving the EU, it was very clear that we would be leaving the single market.”
