🚨🇬🇧🇪🇺🚛🍤🐟🥬📦✈️🇬🇧🇪🇺🚨
So here it is. After the euphoria, the @FinancialTimes @FTMag long read of how @BorisJohnson did his Trade deal with the EU. Tl:dr...not so much “build back better”, more “build back the borders” - stay with me/1.

Well, for example leaving EU aviation safety agency (EASA); Chemicals agency (ECHA), not getting a waiver of 'safety and security' declarations for hauliers, not seeking special arrangements for animal products...on and on it goes /4
Did Whitehall object? Yes it did - Defra and Beis and Treasury all tried at some level to temper the revolutionary fury. But mostly failed. /5

https://t.co/DE5wV3HNH6
\U0001f6a8\u2708\ufe0f\u2708\ufe0f\u2708\ufe0f\U0001f4a5\U0001f4a5\U0001f4a5\U0001f6a8
— Peter Foster (@pmdfoster) March 10, 2020
EXCORIATING OpEd from \u2066@PauleverittADS\u2069 on \u2066\u2066@grantshapps\u2069 decision not to seek assoc membership of EU air safety body EASA after #brexit - says govt is ideological and not listening. \U0001f525\U0001f525\U0001f5251/thread
https://t.co/S1Z8Ui5ar7
https://t.co/kYX7jOn8n9
Andrew Neil tells @MakeUK_ manufacturing conference that 10 Downing Street is happy to see the end of complex, cross-border supply chains after Brexit.
— Joe Mayes (@Joe_Mayes) February 25, 2020
`Those days are coming to an end', @afneil says
Says govt. sees rise of 3D printing, more domestic sourcing as the future pic.twitter.com/yAfH4IMU9a
https://t.co/1kLxFovh1U


So that 'success' defined by @BorisJohnson's own terms - landing a Canada-style deal - meant the constriction of trade. We slipped through the looking glass./11
Wow/12

https://t.co/vH7H8p44zZ

https://t.co/fNX50cPPKu

https://t.co/o88fnMkQKy
https://t.co/FPP3IgFHLH
Odd to be so proud of a Canada deal, then disown it. /18

less flexible"...but the upside seems less clear. /19

More from Peter Foster
As we report today one area being looked at is workers' rights...but it is politically difficult territory.
No cabinet decisions have been taken, but per sources, three potential areas been identified in Business Dept...
- the 48 Hour Week
- holiday pay/overtime calculations
- new EU rules on reporting hours worked...
All potentially possible post #brexit /2
The government says it has no intention of “lowering” workers’ rights....and notes that UK has actually gold-plated many EU regulations...BUT (think of government saying it won't "lower" animal welfare standards)...the devil will all be in the detail, if and when it comes /3
So the government likes to talk about ensuring workers’ rights are protected but ALSO making sure businesses has freedoms and flexibility to grow...so one man's reduction in rights is another freedom to get richer/work harder/be more prosperous. It depends how you sell it. /4
So take this 2017 story from The Sun on the cash bonanza that will be rained down on hardworking families by Brexiteers' (long standing) desire to scrap the 48-hour week. Overtime booooom..../5
https://t.co/QLqQ7rCzkv

More from Brexit
There is continued growing unease. The main picture remains one of depressed/tentative trade (c50% down y-o-y) and some high profile logistics business have taken the rational step to stop and regroup.
The big worry here is that ‘not-trading’becomes a habit. We can’t/won’t carry on at half the volumes of before, but as volumes claw back we may only reach something like 80% of previous volumes and that is a disaster for a food industry already battered by a recession.
Lots of focus has been on the idea of EU businesses stopping serving the UK. Worries about how we feed ourselves has trumped worry about our exporters at every stage. Even though it is the collapse of our export businesses that is (and has always been) the greater threat.
To reassure the mainland British shopper that feels like less of a risk. UK is a large market of wealthy consumers, and UK gov has shown it will do anything (however unfair) to ensure stuff gets in - even letting supermarkets have access to the fast track lane to Dover.
NEW. \U0001f6a8\U0001f6a8\U0001f69b\U0001f1ec\U0001f1e7\U0001f644\U0001f69b\U0001f69a\U0001f6a8\U0001f6a8 clear signs govt is preparing for coming #brexit turbulence - consulting on new fast-track scheme for food lorries returning to Europe /1
— Peter Foster (@pmdfoster) January 13, 2021
https://t.co/QqDKxBUu3f
I am not as close to this but it feels like shortage on the shelves is more of a genuine immediate threat for the island of Ireland. The types of innovative solutions we have discussed this week can help but will they come in quick enough?