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1 Feb, 8 tweets, 4 min read
Exclusive: DEFRA has been advising shellfish traders than an EU ban on live exports would end in April

However, the EU has told the industry that the ban is *indefinite*, in an email seen by PoliticsHome

Businesses say the post-Brexit ban will end them
politicshome.com/news/article/e…
Last month I reported that live mussels, cockles, and other shellfish caught in most UK waters were banned from the EU

DEFRA's advice was that this post-Brexit ban would end on April 21

However, a Commission email says it is indefinite, not temporary politicshome.com/news/article/e…
The industry held an emergency meeting to discuss the bombshell, which was "contrary" to government info

I've seen a November email by Victoria Prentis saying the ban was temporary

DEFRA is aware of the EU's stance and will "continue to raise" it w/ them politicshome.com/news/article/e…
A shellfish trader in Cumbria told me they'd have to invest up to £1m in new facilities to continue exporting

Their buyers are mostly in Spain & France

“This is not a teething issue, this is government removing all our teeth and leaving us unable to eat" politicshome.com/news/article/e…
Another Cumbrian shellfish trader told me his businesses "wouldn't exist" without EU customers. "We have been building these customers for years," he said

95% of his exports go to France, mainly Brittany

Many businesses like these are going to collapse
politicshome.com/news/article/e…
A summary:

- pre-January 1: DEFRA advised shellfish traders that many live exports (e.g. mussels, cockles, scallops) to the EU were banned, but only until April 21
- mid-Jan, 3 wks into Brexit: EU tells industry that DEFRA is wrong, the ban is indefinite
politicshome.com/news/article/e…
Labour's Shadow DEFRA Secretary @LukePollard: "This makes a mockery of ministerial claims the problems with shellfish exports are only teething troubles"

politicshome.com/news/article/e…
New: Lib Dem @amcarmichaelMP writes to fisheries minister Victoria Prentis demanding "clarification on your part as to how businesses were so severely misled" about the live shellfish ban

DEFRA must show a "clear plan of action" for averting this "catastrophic" outcome, he says

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More from @adampayne26

Adam Payne Profile picture
2 Feb
Gove: UK will work with the EU “over the coming days to fix the difficulties” that have arisen from the NI Protocol. He says officials will “work calmly” and “at speed” to resolve issues. GB exporters to NI have struggled to cope w/ new paperwork, espec for food & animal goods.
Gove tells @LouHaigh that the looming end to GB-NI grace periods - the 3-month grace period for Export Health Certificates expires just next month - “do need to be addressed” and he will be writing to the EU today with “specific steps” for doing so.
Gove has mentioned Export Health Certificates several times, in an indication of how pressing an issue it is. EHCs need to be check by vets and cost lots of ££. Northern Irish hauliers and businesses have warned that failure to address that problem will unleash more disruption.
Read 8 tweets
Adam Payne Profile picture
22 Jan
There are fishers whose EU exports are not being delayed or cancelled — they are totally banned

Shellfish traders in areas like Cumbria are shut out from their key market

The ban is until late April but industry fears some traders won't last that long politicshome.com/news/article/g…
The ban on shellfish not ready for consumption has resulted in some British cockle, mussel and scallop exports to the EU stopping overnight

A fisherman in Cumbria told me 95% of his family's sales go to France and that without them, "we wouldn't exist"

politicshome.com/news/article/g…
What can be done about it?

DEFRA says the ban lasts until late April but the issue is out of their hands

The industry fears some traders, reeling from Covid, won't last that long

There is also concern that some won't qualify for government compensation politicshome.com/news/article/g…
Read 5 tweets
Adam Payne Profile picture
19 Jan
Pigs heads and other meat exports are rotting in Rotterdam as “eye-watering” post-Brexit paperwork stifles the UK meat industry

120+ lorries are currently believed to be stuck at the Dutch port. One lorry carrying pork has been there for nearly 3 weeks politicshome.com/news/article/p…
Meat exporters are suffering the same problems as fish traders: long delays, cancelled orders, exports destroyed

The new system is "eye-watering" and "fundamentally not designed for short shelf-life food," industry leaders said

politicshome.com/news/article/p…
Pigs heads have been sat waiting to enter Holland for weeks amid confusion over what checks must take place

EU customers import them from the UK to make products like sausages and pâté

Now they're rotting and costing British businesses thousands

politicshome.com/news/article/p…
Read 5 tweets
Adam Payne Profile picture
13 Jan
The @Foodanddrinkfed's Ian Wright tells the Brexit committee: one well-prepared, major company said that a UK to EU export which before January 1 took 3 hrs, took *5 days*

"The enforcers are as clueless of the provisions of the deal as those operating under it," he tells MPs
Wright says UK-EU border disruption "will get worse" because freight traffic is currently so low

Currently around 2,000 lorries are crossing the short straits but usually it's 10,000, he tells the Brexit committee
The 50k customs agents target...

Make UK's Stephen Phipson says the number was around 12k the last time he checked, businesses finding it "extremely difficult" to find them

Wright: the shortage isn't the only issue - those the UK has have never worked at this intensity before
Read 5 tweets
Adam Payne Profile picture
12 Jan
Scottish fish traders say they are losing at least £1 million a day due to Brexit disruption and want compensation from the government

Some boats are landing in Denmark to circumvent chaos in Britain

One exporter told me the situation was a "disgrace"

politicshome.com/news/article/s…
Hauliers are refusing to export and EU customers are cancelling orders due to delays

A 1/3 of Scottish boats are tied up at harbours

Labour's @LukePollard says there's a "strong case" for government compensating fishermen whose livelihoods are at stake

politicshome.com/news/article/s…
UK Gov points the finger of blame at the SNP government in Holyrood:

“The Scottish Government has persistently refused to accept the democratic vote to leave the EU, but that does not allow them to abdicate their responsibilities to Scottish businesses” politicshome.com/news/article/s…
Read 6 tweets
Adam Payne Profile picture
22 Dec 20
The @Foodanddrinkfed's Ian Wright gives government both barrels

He says much of the chaos "should've been avoided" as HMG was "well aware of the power" of its Covid announcement

He says HMG should compensate affected traders "who have lost out from that failure of authority"
Stark from the @RHANews' Duncan Buchanan, who says port chaos is of "a different order of magnitude, and in the context of Brexit and what is coming from January 1, this is the start of a very, very serious supply chain disruption of the like that probably have never experienced"
The RHA's Buchanan says the government's reported plan to test drivers is "a waste of time" and "knee-jerk" policy

He says it is "counterproductive" as it'll just lead to drivers mixing in a field in Kent

The treatment of drivers is "pathetic," he adds

Damning evidence so far
Read 7 tweets

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