The government has announced that the final part of the planned post-Brexit border strategy, known as the Single Trade Window (STW), will now be postponed until at least 2026. Its implementation had already been moved back from last month to January 2025.
In May, the National Audit Office (NAO) warned the launch faced “several major challenges” and the government’s timescales were “overly optimistic”.
The Labour government has now said that the scheme will be paused for the remainder of this financial year, and throughout the next financial year. In a statement to parliament on Tuesday, James Murray, the exchequer secretary to the Treasury, said, “In the context of financial challenges, the government … [is] pausing delivery of the UK single trade window in 2025-26.”
He added it would now consider the role of the STW and provide an update on its future at the spending review in late spring.
The decision marks the latest government delay in implementing elements of the post-Brexit border plans since it was elected in July. The government also recently delayed the introduction of safety and security declaration forms on all imports by three months, which were initially meant to come into force on 31 October.
A spokesperson for HMRC commented, Development of the STW for the 2025 to 2026 financial year has been paused as part of the spending review settlement. This will enable consideration of how digital tools and the work done on STW to date can support our border priorities and ensure the greatest impact on trader experience.”
In unrelated developments, the remaining changes to post-Brexit plant health legislation have come into effect. These include listing certain pests, based on preliminary assessments, as provisional quarantine pests, regulating the seed of sticky nightshade (Solanum sisymbriifolium) which is a known host of the RNQP Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd). In addition, seed of all Solanum species will require a Phytosanitary Certificate and checks will increase from 1% to 5% (unless already required at higher levels).
