Stunning though it seems, some sectors of the UK economy are only just coming to terms with the problems thrown up by Brexit. One such sector is the horse racing business, as this report by the BBC shows. An industry worth over £4 billion a year has seen a massive increase in bureaucracy when transporting horses into the EU. The British Horseracing Authority has called for the red tape, which a Suffolk stud farm says has "mired the industry in paperwork", to be cut.
There has apparently been a 67% fall in the number of British trained runners in races in the EU this year during January and February compared to the same months last year. Meanwhile, EU-trained runners in GB races have fallen by 92%, with a 93% reduction in runners from Ireland and 89% from Northern Ireland.
Some of this may be due to covid, as Ross Hamilton, of the British Horseracing Authority told a Commons committee, but most is due to a huge increase in paperwork after we left the EU at the end of December. He told MPs that "action was needed" from the government.
The paperwork for just one horse to travel overseas requires at least 26 stamps, each needing a vet's signature, but it could be many more and James Crowhurst, said: "We knew we would be a third country, subject to new import rules, but we didn't think they would be so time-consuming and labour-intensive."
DEFRA said: "To ensure movements to EU countries can continue as smoothly as possible, we have implemented a range of initiatives to increase the number of certifiers to meet demand for export health certification."
Mr Hamilton told the BBC, "It is important that our industry has the ability to be part of this highly competitive thoroughbred sector."
"In terms of quantification of the impacts we have seen, overall, British runners in EU countries are down 51% for the first four months of this year, compared with the equivalent period in 2019, and runners from the EU in Great Britain are down around 40%," he said.
The MD of Barton Stud of Great Barton, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, Tom Blain, said horses had to be conceived naturally to qualify as thoroughbreds. Since the 1960s an agreement has been in place between Ireland, France and Britain to allow horses to move smoothly between the countries for breeding and racing.
Blain said now the UK had left the EU, the process has 'changed' - and not for the better. You can say that again.
I pick this up, not because I have any interest in horse racing, I don't, but because of a tweet from Dr Anna Jerzewska, a trade specialist:
See the quote below.From the moment the UK settled on an FTA- style relationship it was clear that various border formalities will be required.There are strict rules around moving live animals into the EU from the outside.— Dr Anna Jerzewska (@AnnaJerzewska) June 20, 2021
She agrees the processes are incredibly labour-intensive and come with plenty of extra costs but as she notes, "They have also been around for a while AND the UK applied these rules to imports from 3rd countries when it was a member of the EU." In other words, they are not new barriers or something being done to 'punish' us for leaving the EU. We have simply stepped outside the existing rules and become a third country.
But, and here's the sting, She says:
"If you work in a particular industry, and your livelihood depends on it, in the face of a major change to the way your country trades with its closest partner, wouldn't you be looking into the potential impact for the last 5 years?"
And she puts a finger on what is perhaps the biggest problem that has always been present in this country but which has come to the fore in the last few years with Brexit. It is the 'don't worry somebody else will sort it out' problem. Sometimes known as the 'if we ignore it, it will simply go away' problem.
Whereas on the continent, companies immediately face up to issues and have someone take responsibility for planning and preparation so they are not taken by surprise, we don't.
A thick report lands on the desk of the man at the top - who is usually rushed off his feet dealing with multiple fires, often caused by not-looking-ahead. He takes one look at it, decides it's far too long to read and tosses it aside. Months or even years later, when actions are needed, it surfaces again to be quickly scanned to realise another, larger fire has now broken out. So it is with the horse racing business.
Dr Jerzewska was asking a rhetorical question, the answer to which is 'yes' if we were in any other country, but not this one.
I am convinced people like her, and in government and the press believe this is the sort of attitude which only affects a small number of companies in a small number of sectors. No, it's endemic.
DEFRA for example, in response to the BBC story says, "To ensure movements to EU countries can continue as smoothly as possible, we have implemented a range of initiatives to increase the number of certifiers to meet demand for export health certification."
It's a bit late for that. Perhaps DEFRA and the industry, back in 2016-17 thought 'somebody else would sort it out' and things would just continue as they were. Perhaps they thought government ministers were competent, even sympathetic to the problems faced by British manufacturers and service providers. They were wrong.
Ministers, like Johnson and Gove and Lord Frost (I'm not sure he's a minister or not), were also suffering from the British problem - they were operating under the illusion that 'somebody else will sort it out.'
In the end nobody did.
The BHA, the stud farm owners and trainers all think the government needs to step in an 'sort it out' by negotiating what we had before we left the EU and DEFRA even give the impression that something might be possible:
"We continue to meet regularly with key industry stakeholders, and authorities in France and Ireland, to understand difficulties associated with the movement of equines as they arise."
No. This is Brexit. The EU are not going to change the rules for a 3rd country and certainly not the one which has uniquely held a referendum to escape from EU rules. Time to sort yourselves out.
