@CommonsNIAC@michaelgove@ShankerASingham Back on Jan 6 the TSS (£355m set up to help traders deal with NI Protocol) was criticised to @CommonsNIAC as "simply not good enough" by @Freight_NI Seamus Leheny and others...well a month on, it's got more brutal write-ups /2
@CommonsNIAC@michaelgove@ShankerASingham@Freight_NI@Allied_F_S Mr McAneney painted a pretty sorry picture of the service, tho said everyone was nice/trying hard: “You can phone in and speak to one person and they can give you an answer, and then you’d go away, think about it, then phone back in and get completely the reverse answer." /4
@CommonsNIAC@michaelgove@ShankerASingham@Freight_NI@Allied_F_S Sarah Hards, biz dev'ment mgr at AM Nexday, in Larne said there was apparent lack of training among staff who appeared to have “no previous experience” in customs and logistics. “They sometimes fail to grasp what you’re talking about even after a long conversation" /5
@CommonsNIAC@michaelgove@ShankerASingham@Freight_NI@Allied_F_S You can listen to Ms Hards about 10am mark here...it's not a pretty account. Everyone knows they're trying, but despite this is a users-eye view of the service. Run by Fujitsu, and customs clearance consortium.
It's OUT! My latest #Brexit Briefing for @FinancialTimes - examining @BorisJohnson
"buy now, pay later" Northern Ireland Protocol, why the EU-UK trust deficit is killing it, how that can be restored - because it needs to work. /1
@FinancialTimes@BorisJohnson The danger here is that lingering animus over the opportunistic nature Johnson's Faustian bargain - dividing his Kingdom in order to 'get #Brexit done' and win an 80-seat majority - is clouding judgement on both sides of the Channel /2
@FinancialTimes@BorisJohnson The facts of the Protocol are no less true for Johnson's constant denial of them - that there would be checks, that there really is a trade border that now prevents plants and pets from travelling freely from Bedford to Ballymena as M.Gove reminds us. But these are other facts/3
@MarosSefcovic@michaelgove But no offer of 'blanket derogations' on issues around export health certificates and - it seems - no fix at all on 'prepared meats' (can u send a non-frozen sausage from Brum to Belfast) - note line on new supply chain ("source them in NI or ROI in effect") /3
NEW: 🚨🇬🇧🇪🇺🧪🧑🔬⚗️🧪🇪🇺🇬🇧🚨the U.K. chemicals industry calls for common sense re-think of U.K. post-#brexit plan to build copycat EU REACH chemicals database at cost of £1bn - @GeorgeWParker@FinancialTimes scoop. Stay with me. /1
@GeorgeWParker@FinancialTimes So what's all this about? Well, no sleeping at the back there, because chemicals are in everything - from paint to nail polish, cars to contact lenses - they are key part of manufacturing base, with highly mobile pan-EU supply chains. #Brexit is a bugger for them /2
@GeorgeWParker@FinancialTimes The problem is that as part of the 'sovereignty at all costs approach @DavidGHFrost the UK relationship ruled out close links with the EU chemicals agency ECHA in Helsinki which controls the EU REACH database - a store of all the info on all the chemicals on the market /3
NEW: where @michaelgove warns the EU is in danger of putting its “integrationist theology” above the interests of the people of Northern Ireland - looks like tough discussion ahead this week. 1/ on.ft.com/36UNI5l
Gove will meet @MarosSefcovic in London on Thursday to demand easements to NI Protocol and says “Progress has been made but we are very far from resolving those problems” /2
My colleague @Sam1Fleming gets a testy EU diplomat response: “It would already be a step forward if Britain put as much energy into the Implementation of the NI protocol as it puts into complaining about it.”/3
🚨🇬🇧🇪🇺🐚🦪🦪🐚🦪🐚🇪🇺🇬🇧🚨So...govt has to concede that most mussel, oyster, clam and cockles - bivalve molluscs - can’t now go to EU, “bringing an end to this traditional and valuable trade” - a move U.K. says is “unacceptable”, but admits can’t stop. /1
It seems as if @DefraGovUK@MPGeorgeEustice has been advised it would be OK...but now EU has advised not. They are trying to fix with Shellfish Association of Great Britain @SAGB /2
@DefraGovUK@MPGeorgeEustice@SAGB The tone of this statement slightly reminds me of that letter that a slightly sheepish @DavidGHFrost wrote to the car makers admitting defeat on asking EU for cross-cumulating rules of origin so Japanese car parts. /3
🚨🇪🇺🇬🇧🤔🤔🤔🇪🇺🇬🇧🚨NEW: post #brexit immigration rules are shaping up to kill the au pair industry - on which 45,000 working families depend for affordable childcare. Seems mad. Stay with me. /1
First, what is an 'au pair' - sometimes assumed to be childcare for posh folk - but actually its really a childcare solution for doctors, police, nurses, single parents who have jobs that need reliable, affordable, full-time childcare. The can't afford nannies at £2k/pcm /2
So they an 'au pair', which is a kind of cultural exchange. A young person (90%+ from EU/EEA) aged 18-26 comes to live in your house, they get contribution to English lessons, board and lodging and £100/week 'pocket money' in exchange for 25 hours childcare - it works /3