Monday 30 November 2020

Customs agents and other challenges

There was an interesting piece in a regional online publication based in Wolverhampton called the Express and Star that I didn't see in the mainstream media. It's about the number of customs agents needed next year. A figure of 50,000 has been used, a number that has been put to Michael Gove on several occasions and which he hasn't challenged. This comes from another estimate of 200-250 million customs declarations by HMRC. Dividing the number of declarations by the average time taken to fill one in gets you to the 50K figure. But the truth is nobody really knows because nobody knows what's in the 7-10,000 trucks that cross the channel every day.

The Express and Star article concerns a recent exchange in The House between Gove and Rachel Reeves. She asked how many customs agents were in place and he didn't answer, saying the 50,000 was always an estimate.

Anna Jerzewska commented on Twitter:
The industry, if that's what you would call it, is fragmented with some companies employing their own agents while others use a freight forwarding business or a customs intermediary. This makes it difficult to know how many customs agents there are. There has been no market research done to find out how many are in place. 

Ms Jerzewska adds, "Gov simply doesn't have any idea on where we are with this. A number of companies introduced various new, semi-automated processes - we don't know how effective they will be."

All Gove could say was there has been a "significant increase" without giving a number. This is with 32 days to go!!

Other sectors of the economy are also beginning to wake up to the challenges ahead. The BBC has a piece about ELM or Environmental Land Management, the system of farm payments due to come in after Brexit. Farmers will receive money based on how much they prevent floods, plant woods and help wildlife. It looks like a big change and as usual I assume there will be winners and losers. But note this commentt:

"The changeover will mean upheaval for farmers, and some may be unwilling or unable to adjust. Ministers have confirmed a lump-sum payment for those who decide they want to retire 'with dignity'."

"This should increase the UK’s low levels of farm productivity, because experts say younger farmers are typically more willing to try new methods."

I always thought British farming was very productive compared to French farmers, but perhaps I'm wrong.  But if a lot of small farmers take up the government's offer I assume we will be even more reliant on imported food.

The York Outer MP, Julian Sturdy, was a keen Brexiteer and a member of the DEFRA Select Committee in 2018 that called for "the Government [to] offer policies that would stimulate home grown food production."  I wonder what he thinks about Brexit now?  The importing of cheap food from the USA and elsewhere looks like becoming government policy.

Farming isn't the only sector either. This morning we hear the financial services industry are desperately worried about the lack of clarity concerning market access to the EU27. The EU have not confirmed they will recognise our regulations as equivalent nor have they made a data adequacy decision yet. These are vital if trade is to continue after 1 January in financial services where we have a £60 billion surplus with the EU.

I confess this has always amazed me. How Brexiteers seem to think the fact the EU has a surplus in goods will make  them more willing to concede while our surplus in goods means little or nothing - compared to fish that is.

Finally, The Telegraph has woken up to the fact that owning second homes in France might be a problem after Brexit with owners being limited to 90 days in any one year:

Who would have thought it?
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