Thread by @BestForBritain

"We have ended up with a trading regime that has become complex, costly, slow, prone to break down at its best, and at worst that the door to the EU markets has been closed altogether for some food exporters across Scotland and the UK." - @scotfoodjames at @CommonsScotAffs 1/

"Unfortunately it's a very predictable outcome of trying to test a multibillion pound new trading system in realtime during a global pandemic. We pleaded for a grace period and that plea fell on deaf ears." @scotfoodjames 2/

"Trade is not flowing smoothly and it hasn't done for 5 weeks now. One business I spoke to said that it feels as though Britain has made history and become the first country to impose economic sanctions on itself." @scotfoodjames 3/

"The govt to a degree is still in denial. It's not teething problems," says Jimmy Buchan, Chief Executive, Scottish Seafood Association. 4/

"I said 2 yrs ago these are going to be issues. I'm saying now, these are issues. And they will continue to be issues in the future," says Elaine Whyte, Executive Secretary, Clyde Fishermen's Association. "These markets have taken 40 yrs to set up. We can't just go elsewhere." 5/

"There's been a massive issue with the mismanagement of expectations. The reality is the harder the Brexit, the bigger the barriers we have to overcome. And we've ended up with huge non-tariff barriers, despite the PM saying on Christmas Eve there won't be any." @scotfoodjames 6/

"We've got an EU third country system that was never built for the likes of the UK... It was never built for a country so integrated into the EU's supply chains... We heard phrases like 'sunlit uplands' and didn't know the reality of what we would be facing." @scotfoodjames 7/

"Business wants to trade. We need to scale up. We're far from what would be normal trading conditions," says Jimmy Buchan. "There were opportunities to stay in the Customs Union, stay in the Single Market, so let's not blame industry for the decisions of the politicians." 8/

"One suggestion that I have put on the table is why could we not have EU Clearing Customs Houses in Scotland? So the produce has already cleared customs in the country of origin. Then once the product starts to move it can flow seamlessly through the border." - Jimmy Buchan 9/

"So then the food doesn't spoil. There are things we can do to resolve this, but it requires political will to do so. I always say, people are the markets, politicians are the barriers." - Jimmy Buchan 10/

"Freight volumes are going to start increasing. Import controls will start from April. And we have a suite of other products that might fall under official controls. There's a reluctance to engage with the EU now until April...I'm massively worried about that." @scotfoodjames 11/

"It's the same attitude of brinkmanship that put us on the back foot at the end of last year and resulted in the deal we have now. We have to learn from our past mistakes and engage with the EU on this now." @scotfoodjames 12/

"There's a level of scrutiny and bureaucratic stupidity that needs to be stripped out...until we get standardisation right across border control posts that we're all working to, we're going to continue to have this bureaucratic nonsense tripping up the industry." Jimmy Buchan 13/

"We can't rebuild our infrastructure [once it's gone]. We have to act now to save our supply chains and save our market." - Elaine Whyte, Executive Secretary, Clyde Fishermen's Association 14/

"Brand Scotland is being damaged. I know there's politics involved here at the highest level. But it's small communities and small businesses suffering. It's not teething problems. It's bureaucratic problems. We don't want lip service, we want action." - Jimmy Buchan 15/

"What the final trading model was going to look like wasn't available until Christmas Eve. The border control measures were complex stuff and that was published at 5pm on Hogmanay. The cards that we were dealt, we were doomed from the start..." @scotfoodjames 16/

"If we'd been offered the same grace period as others we could've at least avoided falling off a cliff. We'd have had a window of time to find solutions, and we've been denied that." @scotfoodjames 17/

"The compensation we've been offered, while welcome, is a sticking plaster at best." @scotfoodjames.

In conclusion, a significant amount of work to be done by @michaelgove & Govt to save these businesses. Less lip service, more action, please Minister. /ENDS