Trading with the neighbours
Credit: Suzanne C/ Bell Publishing
The UK and the EU are said to be set to sign a trade deal imminently, and the veterinary deal is a part of the whole package. The vet portion of it will hopefully remove some of the immense burden of paperwork that has populated the post-Brexit landscape here in the UK with regard to the trading of dairy and non-dairy food and drink. As the BBC has noted, “this could be politically risky, as it would mean the UK aligning some of its food and drink rules with the EU, and keeping in step with Brussels over time.”
When trading with your next door neighbour, it seems to make sense to try and align the systems, so not sure what the opposition parties here have to complain about. Never mind – we cross all the digits for an agreement now.
I still think the actual concept of location was completely missed out in the original Brexit idea. Imagine, I live somewhere, and when my neighbours have a hosepipe ban, I have one too. And the various bins are collected on the same days as theirs.
Then again, the UK is the land of 400 different waste disposal plans, so depending on your council, you may put your items into bins, or bags, or these kind of squat containers, and the blue bin top is not the same in one area as another.
On the basis of that, the fact that we can get a deal with our neighbouring bloc of 449 million people in one shot is nothing short of miraculous.
I also approve of the potential youth mobility scheme, so that my offspring can go mooch around in Europe and not have to worry about violating the limit of 90 days in any 180-day period to the Schengen area – maybe also working for his keep while he’s over there, so he won’t keep badgering us for money. One can dream.
- Suzanne Christiansen, editor, Dairy Industries International.
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