LONDON – It was something that politicians spent years debating, diplomats devoted years to negotiating and officials spent a fortune getting ready.
But on Thursday Britain made the embarrassing admission that it is not yet fully ready for Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s biggest political project, Brexit.
Almost five years after the British voted to leave the European Union, the government said it would wave some goods arriving at the mainland’s British ports by January 2022 – an unspoken admission that it was unable to carry out the border controls required by the Brexit.
The latest postponement of the Brexit process was a relief for British companies because it avoids the risk that supermarkets will run out of fresh produce or car factories will lose their supply of parts.
But for the country that started the break with the 27-nation bloc, the delay suggests that the government underestimated, or minimized, the numerous complications of Brexit.
“It’s probably the right thing to do, but it points to some political flaws because it was very predictable,” said Sam Lowe, senior researcher at the Center for European Reform, a London-based research institute, referring to the government’s announcement on Thursday. “It is clear that the infrastructure is not ready to allow for full inspections in July.”
Although Britain was a member of the European Union, British and continental firms were able to negotiate freely with minimal paperwork. But all this ended when Britain left the bloc’s customs union and single market on January 1, and the goods that circulate between the two sides now require customs declarations and, in the case of food products, health certification.
The British chose to carry out their checks gradually, but to implement them in July. Now, that deadline has been postponed by another six months, until January 2022.
On the other hand, on January 1 of this year, Ireland and the countries of continental Europe introduced their customs controls on goods arriving from Britain, a measure that reached some British exporters.
“There are already many outages with only 50 percent of the controls in place,” said Lowe, “I wonder if the government looked at this and said, ‘We can do it without having another problem like this right now. ‘”
Britain’s imports from Germany fell more than 56 percent in January compared to the same month in 2020, although part of this can be explained by the stock ahead of Brexit trade changes and the impact of the pandemic.
But nearly three-quarters of British companies have experienced delays in moving goods into and out of the European Union over the past three months, according to a survey by Make UK, an organization representing manufacturers. Half said that administrative and other costs associated with transportation increased.
With growing tensions over trade, the supply of vaccines and other issues, relations between London and Brussels have deteriorated to a state of semi-permanent friction.
In a statement, the British government said it was changing plans at ports in response to complaints from companies that faced serious challenges during the pandemic.
“As a sovereign trading nation outside the EU, we are free to make decisions in our national interest – and in the interests of our business,” said David Frost, who negotiated the Brexit trade agreement with the European Union for Britain and is now a minister responsible for its implementation.
“Now we are going to introduce border controls six months later than planned to give traders time to focus on getting back together, as the economy opens up after a difficult year,” he said in a statement.
Even so, the decision generated some mild ridicule on the part of those who refer to the 2016 campaign slogan that urged voters to support Brexit and “take back control”.
The new ethos, critics joke, is to do this without exercising any control.
British companies welcomed the decision.
Ian Wright, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, a trade organization, said that without delay his industry faced “disruptions, extra costs and, potentially, shortages of some products, all of which are potentially preventable.”
Applying the originally planned checks would also have an impact on continental truckers’ willingness to come to Britain, which “was already fragile”, he said.
Many trucks that deliver goods from continental Europe to Britain return empty to avoid long checks when they arrive in countries like France, Belgium or the Netherlands.
Thursday’s decision followed the announcement of a separate and much more politically sensitive choice to delay more thorough checks at goods borders ranging from Britain to Northern Ireland.
As trade with Northern Ireland is covered by a separate agreement with the European Union, Britain’s unilateral decision to postpone controls on some products directed there has angered the bloc, which it claims violates international law.
The bloc’s executive body, the European Commission, is expected to take legal action against Britain in the coming days.
Tensions between Britain and the European Union have alarmed companies. Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, described Thursday’s decision as a welcome but temporary solution.
“What companies want to see is an end to damaging political rhetoric on both sides and a focus on improving border flow in the long run,” he said.
Wright echoed that sentiment and said Thursday’s announcement reflected not only the lack of infrastructure in British ports, but also the concern that many continental companies were ill-prepared for the new paperwork.
But Lowe, the analyst, said that British preparations for Brexit were hampered by political considerations and the government’s desire to present the policy in a positive light. This means that companies received little information about the volume of bureaucracy until the end of the process.
“Preparing yourself properly was recognizing that, from an economic perspective, Brexit was a bad idea and that it meant that companies would face problems,” he said.