There’s yet another delay on the post-Brexit system for imports

The government has delayed introducing more checks on EU goods entering the UK over fears it will disrupt supply chains and add to rising inflation.

New import controls on EU food products was set to begin in July.

The government said “it would be wrong to impose new burdens and risk disruption at ports”

This comes at a time of higher costs due to the war in Ukraine and rising energy prices.

It is the fourth time the government has delayed EU import checks since the UK left the EU.

The UK government is now reviewing how it would implement checks and says a new regime will come into force at the end of next year.

The government’s plan is that a new digital trade border, applying to the whole world, will be in place by 2023.

This will mean that only a tiny proportion of the physical checks on food imports due to have rolled out from this July will be needed.

But not everyone is happy, ports, which have spent millions of pounds gearing up for the checks, said they had been “landed with the bill of the government Brexit border U-turn”.