Nigel Jenney, Chief Executive of the Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC), has emerged as the leading voice for British food importers left reeling after yet another government U-turn on post-Brexit border checks.
As businesses count the cost of millions wasted on now-redundant infrastructure, Jenney is demanding clarity, compensation, and common sense from the UK government.
“The industry cannot prepare because it doesn’t have adequate information on time and has no confidence in the UK government because they say one thing and do another,” Jenney said. “We’ve already, as an industry, shown commitment. We have invested huge amounts of money, millions of pounds, in building infrastructure in good faith at our own cost to allow goods to be inspected.”
“For years, we’ve been urging the government to engage properly with industry and provide clear, consistent timelines for import requirements,” continued Jenney. “The fresh produce sector alone has invested millions – with no grant funding – in specialist inspection facilities at the government’s request. These are now largely underutilised due to a deliberate failure to provide enough official inspectors. Without urgent action, these sites will become white elephants.”
His comments follow the government’s last-minute decision to once again delay the introduction of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks on food and plant imports from the EU – the fifth such postponement since Brexit. Businesses that had taken the government at its word and invested in readiness are now facing financial turmoil.
Among them is PML Seafrigo, which spent more than £7 million on a new customs facility in Kent to process perishable goods. That investment may now go to waste. “With what the government has just done, the writing is on the wall,” said Mike Parr, chief executive of PML Seafrigo, which manages cold supply chains for perishable imports.
“We spent all that money training our guys in the process, and it’s going to be of no use now.”“We don’t know when these regulations will come into force,” Jenney said. “We are just starting the southern hemisphere citrus season. These non-EU products and many more may be subject to new regulations, we just don’t know. “It’s beyond frustrating.”
