Michael Gove admits Northern Ireland post-Brexit trade issues are not just ‘teething problems’

Michael Gove has admitted Northern Ireland post-Brexit trade disruption is not just “teething problems”.

The senior UK Government minister admitted there were “serious issues” with businesses struggling to send food and animal products to Northern Ireland due to complicated new rules and paperwork.

Answering an Urgent Question on Tuesday from the Labour Party on the Northern Ireland Protocol, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster explained the problems would not go away unless the EU and Britain took action.

He said: "In the short term, there are a number of issues which I would not describe as teething problems.

Michael Gove has admitted Northern Ireland post-Brexit trade disruption is not just “teething problems”.

"They are significant issues which bear on the lives of people in Northern Ireland, which do need to be resolved.

"We do need to make sure that grace periods are extended and we do need to make sure that supermarkets and other traders can continue, as they are at the moment, to supply consumers with the goods that they need.

"There are a number of very specific issues and they extend to, as I mentioned earlier, everything from pet passports to the provision and plants and seeds to gardens in Northern Ireland.

"The daily life of our fellow citizens does need to be protected and we must deal with all of these questions."

Mr Gove explained the UK Government now hopes to extend the grace periods agreed by the UK and EU for certain elements of Northern Irish trade, but did not say which.

A three-month grace period relieving traders of the need to fill in Export Health Certificates is set to expire on April 1.

His comments come less than a month on from the Prime Minister dismissing the issues to the Liaison Committee of MPs.

Speaking on January 13, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "Yes, I am not going to deny down that there are teething problems and there are issues that we need to sort out, but the deal has been of great, great assistance to our businesses in smoothing this."

One week later Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis insisted the Government had no plans to extend the grace periods.

Now the SNP’s newly appointed international trade spokesperson Drew Hendry has accused the UK Government of lying to businesses.

He said: “After a month of the Tory government insisting that the huge issues exporters and hauliers have faced at the border are just ‘teething problems’, it seems that finally a UK minister has taken his head out of the sand and is waking up to the reality that their bad Brexit deal is having a real and devastating impact on real people and businesses.

“We can only hope the rest of the Cabinet will follow and action is taken to protect people’s livelihoods and businesses. The UK Government must immediately suspend fines, introduce a grace period for exporters and hauliers and make good on the Prime Minister’s promise to deliver compensation for businesses affected by the trade difficulties.

“The SNP and industry leaders have been calling for action on these issues for weeks now. The situation is now beyond urgent as businesses continue to lose millions of pounds of overseas sales a day and customers look elsewhere for their produce.”

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