Breaking: U.K. delays Brexit border checks on EU food amid supply shortages 1/ bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
A new wave of Brexit bureaucracy was due to hit the food supply chain in the coming months - just as it wrestles with labour shortages and the fallout of the pandemic 2/ bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Specifically, EU food imports faced physical customs inspections from January 2022. And from October 2021, EU food imports needed export health certificates - a costly document, and there's a shortage of vets to provide them 3/
But once again the British government delays a Brexit reality. Both new requirements now happening from July 2022. Here's Lord Frost's reasoning 4/ 
There were also major doubts about the U.K.'s readiness at ports to handle the new customs checks - see @Annaisaac's excellent piece y/day 5/
https://twitter.com/Annaisaac/status/1437372677271040005
The delay has provoked an angry reaction from the food sector. Companies have spent significant sums getting ready for the October and Jan changes, but now it's been put off. See this from @Foodanddrinkfed 6/
Interesting point on asymmetry - British food and drink exporters to the EU currently have to wrestle with the full panoply of Brexit customs checks, while their EU competitors are being given the freedom to trade in the other direction unimpeded 7/ bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Other interesting legal q - under WTO rules, for how long is the UK able to give EU imports preferential treatment? Isn't it a breach of non-discrimination? All wise words welcome @Lorand_Bartels @SamuelMarcLowe @DmitryOpines @AnnaJerzewska 8/
It's a Brexit story we've seen many times before - the can gets kicked down the road... ends/ bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
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