Business chiefs tell Brandon Lewis: Empty shelves ARE due to Brexit - act now or it may get worse

The comments comes as a serious contradiction to Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, who said this morning that any empty shelves in Northern Ireland are due to coronavirus issues - and not because of Brexit or the NI protocol.

He told Sky News: “The unfettered access was always about Northern Ireland businesses into Great Britain – yes there is.

“The flow of food and goods linked to the EU and the Northern Ireland Protocol has been good actually.

“Where we’ve seen some images of empty shelves in Northern Ireland – although let’s be clear we’ve seen them across the UK recently – has been linked to Covid and some of the challenges we’ve had at Dover due to Covid just before Christmas and the flow through the supply line of that rather than through the protocol.

“Supermarkets we’ve been talking to regularly have good flows of supply and that’s important to Northern Ireland, being an integral part of the United Kingdom.”

Earlier today the DUP, UUP, TUV, SDLP and Alliance all rejected his claims that the shortages were due to Covid.

But by this afternoon four business leaders had also told the News Letter that they thought Brexit - and not Covid - was overwhelmingly to blame.

Andrew Opie, Director of Food & Sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, was clear that the new GB-NI customs arrangements had caused delays.

“The flow of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland has seen some small disruption as firms adapted to the new processes in place since 1st January,” he said. “With many of these processes only decided days before they were implemented, and transportation firms also remaining cautious as the new rules came in, there have been some delays and choice issues.”

However he also saw a real danger of the situation worsening if the government does not act now.

“While these are largely being solved, a larger one looms on 31st March when the grace period for simplified controls ends, and firms must provide export health certificates for all products of animal origin. The UK and EU Government must take steps to ensure the long term sustainability of the NI grocery market, providing robust controls to satisfy the EU, but recognising the deeply integrated supply chains that exist between NI and GB.”

Glyn Roberts, Retail NI Chief Executive, agreed that the new customs arrangements continue to be “a considerable challenge”.

“It is difficult not to come to the conclusion that this situation is a direct result of the new arrangements for Brexit, with its added bureaucracy, friction and the lack of preparedness of GB based suppliers,” he said. “But we must try and make the best out of a bad situation and move forward. We must not focus on the problems, but on the solutions. This new trading arrangement will eventually, to quote an old Belfast saying ‘collapse into place’.”

He added: “This situation continues to be a considerable challenge to wholesalers, retailers, suppliers and the logistics sector. However it is not a crisis and Retail NI members are working through the problems and we are confident that we are making progress.

“Stock levels remain high and only a relatively few products remain temporarily unavailable. Many of our independent retail members report that they have few if any empty shelves”.

The head of the Federation of Small Business in NI, Roger Pollen, was in “no doubt” that Brexit was having an impact.

“There is no doubt that post-transition friction is having some impact on trade, whether that is the movement of goods from Dover to Calais; GB to RoI; or GB to NI, all of which can have an impact on Northern Ireland,” he said. “Other factors are at play, of course, with many businesses experiencing staff shortages because of the wider public health situation, and that can also impact supply chains.

“However, one of the most common trends we are experiencing is a lack of awareness and an over-caution among businesses, particularly in GB, about what it means to trade with Northern Ireland. While trade processes need to be simplified, there is also a requirement for greater understanding about the current arrangements which, for many, should present little extra challenge.”

Stephen Kelly, CEO of Manufacturing NI, was surprised that anyone was surprised that Brexit has caused such disruption.

“The UK leaving the Customs Union and EU’s single market was only ever going to cause turbulence,” he said. “Tariffs were always a worry, but it is the non-tariff barriers such as customs formalities, rules of origin, conformity assessment and more which we have always said would cause the real hurt.  

“The surprising thing is that this has come as a surprise to so many in UK business.

“Whilst what we make here continues to enjoy unfettered access to Britain and the EU, with firms reporting strong demand and sales, undoubtedly new friction is disrupting supply chains regardless of whether that arrives via NI ports or Dublin.

“Our biggest challenge remains getting businesses in England, Scotland and Wales both equipped and still keen to be our suppliers.  Too many GB businesses are unaware, unprepared or unwilling to understand the new responsibilities for shipping goods to Northern Ireland.”

In the meantime, local businesses are finding a way to get things done by reorganising where they get their raw materials and by reorienting transport routes, he said.

“Given that the deal with the EU was struck in the final hours and Parliament took away the possibility of time being available for firms to discover, understand and adjust, it’s likely that issues such as the confusion over importing steel would emerge.  “Thankfully that seems to have been resolved this week but there will undoubtedly be others emerge in the coming weeks which require similar urgent attention by the UK and perhaps the EU to fix.”

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