Starmer lifts Brexit red tape on certain imports from next month
The UK government has announced it will scrap planned border checks on fruit and vegetable imports from the European Union, preventing the measures from taking effect on July 1.
This decision, attributed to what the government calls Sir Keir Starmer 's Brexit reset deal, is expected to save businesses approximately £200 million in additional supply chain costs, according to the produce sector. The move has been welcomed by industry stakeholders who had voiced concerns over the potential financial burden of the proposed controls.
Bosses had warned that this could add to inflation, put pressure on food supply chains and threaten the future of businesses.
The new SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) deal with the EU will eliminate routine border checks for food exports and imports on certain products.
The Government said impending checks on 'medium-risk' fruit and vegetables, such as tomatoes, grapes, plums, cherries, peaches and peppers, will now not be introduced.
The latest relaxation in trade rules will take place until January 31 2027 as a 'contingency measure', according to officials.
Biosecurity minister Baroness Hayman said: 'This Government's EU deal will make food cheaper, slash bureaucracy and remove cumbersome border controls for businesses.
'A strengthened, forward-looking partnership with the European Union will deliver for working people as part of our plan for change.'
It is the fourth time the border check plans have been pushed back, with the proposals previously set to come into force in January.
The checks on fruit and vegetables were the latest phase of the Government's Border Target Operating Model which introduced checks on animal and plant products last year.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
32 minutes ago
- Reuters
Shaken by crises, Switzerland fetters UBS's global dream
BERN, June 6 (Reuters) - Switzerland announced reforms on Friday to make its biggest bank UBS (UBSG.S), opens new tab safer and avoid another crisis, hampering the global ambitions of a lender whose financial weight eclipses the country's economy. UBS emerged as Switzerland's sole global bank more than two years ago after the government hastily arranged its rescue of scandal-hit Credit Suisse to prevent a disorderly collapse. The demise of Credit Suisse, one of the world's biggest banks, rattled global markets and blindsided officials and regulators, whose struggle to steer the lender as it lurched from one scandal to the next underscored their weakness. On Friday, speaking from the same podium where she had announced the Credit Suisse rescue in 2023 as finance minister, Switzerland's president Karin Keller-Sutter delivered a firm message. The country would not be wrongfooted again. "I don't believe that the competitiveness will be impaired, but it is true that growth abroad will become more expensive," Keller-Sutter said of UBS. "We've had two crises. 2008 and 2023," she said. "If you see something that is broken, you have to fix it." During the global financial crisis of 2008, UBS was hit by a losses in subprime debt, as a disastrous expansion into riskier investment banking forced it to write down tens of billions of dollars and ultimately turn to the state for help. Memories of that crisis also linger, reinforcing the government's resolve after the collapse of Credit Suisse. For UBS, which has a financial balance sheet of around $1.7 trillion, far bigger than the Swiss economy, the implications of the reforms proposed on Friday are clear. Switzerland no longer wants to back its international growth. "Bottom line: who is carrying the risk for growth abroad?" said Keller-Sutter. "The bank, its owners or the state?" The rules the government proposed demand that UBS in Switzerland holds more capital to cover risks in its foreign operations. That move, one of the most important steps taken by the Swiss in a series of otherwise piecemeal measures, will make UBS's businesses abroad more expensive to run for one of the globe's largest banks for millionaires and billionaires. Following publication of the reform plans, UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher and CEO Sergio Ermotti said in an internal memo that if fully implemented, they would undermine the bank's "global competitive footprint" and hurt the Swiss economy. The reform would require UBS to hold as much as $26 billion in extra capital. Some believe the demands may alter the bank's course. "It could be that UBS has to change its strategy of growth in the United States and Asia," said Andreas Venditti, an analyst at Vontobel. "It's not just growing. It makes the existing business more expensive. It is an incentive to get smaller and this will most likely happen." Credit Suisse's demise exploded the myth of invincibility of one of the wealthiest countries in the world, home to a global reserve currency, and proved as unworkable a central reform of the financial crisis to prevent state bailouts. For many in Switzerland, the government's reforms are long overdue. "The bank is bigger than the entire Swiss economy. It makes sense that it should not grow even bigger," said Andreas Missbach of Alliance Sud, a group that campaigns for transparency. "It is good that the government did not give in to lobbying by UBS. The question is whether it is enough. We have a banking crisis roughly every 12 years. So I'm not really put at ease." UBS CEO Ermotti had lobbied against the reforms, arguing that a heavy capital burden would put the bank on the back foot with rivals. The world's second-largest wealth manager after Morgan Stanley is dwarfed by its U.S. peer. Morgan Stanley shares value the firm at twice its book value, compared with UBS's 20% premium to book. On Friday, the bank reiterated this message, saying that it strongly disagreed with the "extreme" increase in capital. But others are sceptical that the government has done enough. Hans Gersbach, a professor at ETH Zurich, said there was still no proper plan to cope should UBS run into trouble. "The credibility of the too big to fail regime remains in question."
The Independent
34 minutes ago
- The Independent
Reform UK councils in ‘shambles' as newly elected councillors fail to show up
Reform UK gained control of nine councils and minority control in three more in May's local elections, but opposition councillors claim the party's organisation and productivity have been a "shambles" since. Across the 12 Reform -controlled councils, 33 meetings have been cancelled or postponed in the first nine weeks since the election, and at least 21 Reform councillors have missed their first meetings. In Kent, nine out of 22 scheduled meetings have been cancelled since the election, including legally required meetings like the governance and audit committee. An opposition councillor in Kent, Rich Lehmann, said the cancellations were "shocking" and questioned Reform 's ability to lead the council, while Sam Smith, leader of the Conservatives in Nottinghamshire, called the start "shambolic." Reform UK councillors have reportedly cancelled meetings to reschedule them when more prepared, while Nottinghamshire Council's new Reform leader Mick Barton dismissed the criticisms as "political rhetoric from the opposition."
Sky News
35 minutes ago
- Sky News
Three alleged Iranian spies appear at Old Bailey
Three Iranian nationals charged with spying offences have appeared in court. Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday, charged with offences under the National Security Act. They are alleged to have targeted journalists working for Iran International, an independent media organisation based in London. They are all charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist the Iranian foreign intelligence service between 14 August 2024 and 16 February 2025. They arrived in the UK between 2016 and 2022 by irregular means, including by small boats and a lorry, and appeared in court via video link. They spoke through a Farsi translator to confirm their identities. Sepahvand, of St John's Wood, is also charged with engaging in surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research, with the intention of committing serious violence against a person in the UK. Manesh, of Brent, and Noori, of Ealing, are additionally charged with surveillance and reconnaissance, with the intention that serious violence would be committed by others against a person in the UK. The plea hearing for the three men will take place on 26 September, and a provisional trial date has been set for 5 October 2026, according to Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb. The UK government summoned Iran's ambassador after the men were arrested on 3 May, saying Iran "must be held accountable for its actions". The men were arrested on the same day as five other Iranian nationals, who were taken into custody as part of an entirely separate investigation. Four of those men remain in custody and were arrested on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act. A fifth, a 24-year-old man in the Manchester area, was released on bail. Last October, MI5 director general Ken McCallum said the UK intelligence agency had responded to 20 "potentially lethal" Iran-backed plots since 2022, warning of the risk of an "increase or broadening of Iranian state aggression in the UK".
