British de facto deputy prime minister Michael Gove has told businesses that trade with Europe they need to prepare for “significant change” with “inevitable” border checks for “almost everybody” who imports from the EU from next year.
In the first official confirmation that the government is going to impose trade barriers post-Brexit, he warned there would be checks on food and goods of animal origin, plus customs declarations and mandatory safety and security certificates required for all imports.
“You have to accept we will need some friction. We will minimise it but it is an inevitability of our departure,” he told delegates at a Cabinet Office event held in central London on Monday, entitled Preparing Our Border for the Future Relationship.
The Guardian reports that Gove also warned delegates it could take five years to get a smart border involving online processes up and running and said businesses had to be ready for the change next January, whatever the outcome of the next phase of Brexit negotiations.
Financial Times report the story that the Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has admitted that a new “smart” border to cut post-Brexit trade friction with the EU will not be ready until 2025, sparking warnings that exporters and importers will face big costs at the end of the year. Mr Gove on Monday told the freight industry to prepare for new bureaucracy and costs from January 1 2021 when the post-Brexit transition period ends and the UK leaves the EU customs union and single market.
Although business laments the passing of Theresa May’s objective of “frictionless trade” between the UK and the EU, there was a welcome for how Mr Gove was straightforward in explaining what to expect from Boris Johnson’s approach.
Via The Guardian / FT
