Reports that the UK government is to further delay introducing post-Brexit border controls on animal and plant products imported from the EU is upsetting the Scottish food and farming sector. According to NFU Scotland president Martin Kennedy, it is a decision that seriously disregards the interests of domestic food producers ‘in favor of a cheap food policy that encourages asymmetric trade and it flies in the face of commitments made at the ‘Farm to Fork’ summit in Downing Street in May’.
A formal announcement on the delay and a fresh timescale for introducing border checks and controls is expected from the UK government. However, its lax approach to border controls continues to leave farmers exposed to the introduction of devastating animal and plant diseases such as African Swine Fever.
Source: nfus.org.uk