NFU Scotland blast 'wholly inadequate' border controls for meat imports
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THE Scottish farmers' union has slammed the UK government for "wholly inadequate" border control checks on meat entering the UK post-Brexit.
NFU Scotland have said that the "long running" failure to put controls in place means that Scottish farmers and crofters have been left exposed to the introduction of devastating animal diseases such as African Swine Fever.
Jamie Wyllie, chair of NFU Scotland’s Pigs Committee, has accused Westminster of kicking "the can down the road" on border control until January 2024, calling for the UK government to guarantee that a robust, reliable system delivering proper border checks on food, with addition measures verifying the health and safety of meat products will be delivered in a year’s time.
In his latest blog for NFU Scotland, he writes: “Since the UK left the EU, Westminster has had wholly inadequate border controls in place for checking meat and other products entering our country.
"Amongst all the chaos of securing a ‘Brexit deal’ the mechanics of how border controls would operate was lost with no thought given to having the infrastructure and staff in place to manage controls when the split finally happened. A system has been promised but the deadline for when the system would be available has been repeatedly pushed back by the UK government.
"Announcements in July 2022 revealed a system would not be in place for January 2023, as required in legislation, instead the legislation was re-written to make room for this latest delay. The new legislative timeline requires an operational system to be in place by the end of January 2024, a significant delay from the January 2021 date.”
Mr Wyllie went on to say that the longer there is no system in place, the greater the distortion of the market for UK producers – with importers to the UK facing less bureaucracy than those looking to export meat from the UK to EU – and the longer UK borders are left unprotected against the introduction of livestock diseases, such as African Swine Fever (ASF), into the UK herds and flocks.
He noted that in a Border Force operation last year, 22 vans were checked with 21 identified to have illegal meat on board, apparently for personal consumption, in various condition and from countries not allowed to export to the UK due to ASF.
Mr Wyllie continued: “This was a great sting for Border Force and hopefully will dissuade people from illegally bringing in meat, but this sort of checking needs to be carried our more regularly to make a real impact, and checks are needed on commercial imports to ensure they are what they say they are.
“Whilst the delays in UK government introducing border controls remain hugely frustrating for the industry, we hope they mean there will ultimately be a ‘fit for purpose’ system, when it does come into play. The last thing the industry wants is a poor system brought in just to meet a strict deadline.We need reassurance from the UK government now that a realistic plan is in place, giving the development of the new system the focus and resources it needs to deliver an effective system without further delays.”
The UK government were approached for comment on the issues raised by Mr Wyllie but have not responded to that request.
Read Mr Wyllie's full blog at https://www.nfus.org.uk/news/blog/uk-government-must-address-long-running-failure-on-border-controls
