By Alex Freudmann, Managing Director, M&S Food

European Politics has been dominated by big topics recently and things are moving quickly. As someone whose job it is to get fresh, quality food on shelves for 32 million customers every day, I can’t help but contrast this frenetic activity with the sloth-like speed with which food crosses the Irish Sea – it has barely moved on in the five years since the UK left the EU.  Of course, this might seem a small issue, but it really does have a big impact on our customers and suppliers, as well as on our food industry’s competitiveness. 

M&S has traded from stores in the Republic of Ireland for over 40 years and stores in Northern Ireland for over 50. We have 39 stores across both markets and employ over 4,000 people. We want to bring them the best of M&S, whether that’s products from our 60 fantastic Irish suppliers, produce from our 8,500 British Select Farmers or delicious Spanish charcuterie and French cheese.

But five years since the UK left the EU, moving food across the narrow is still painfully slow. Brexit bureaucracy continues to add complexity and cost for retailers, and limits choice and value for customers.

At 11pm tonight, 18 M&S lorries will board the 11:30pm ferry from Cairnryan to Belfast and around six of those will then travel south to the Republic of Ireland. Each of these lorries will have around 20,000 products on them, ranging from fruit and vegetables to sandwiches, joints of meat and ready meals. At the same time, our suppliers will be attempting to send produce including eggs, salads, meat, bakery items and chocolates from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to Great Britain.

Most of the load leaving Scotland will contain fresh products grown and produced in Britain with a short shelf life, so the speed of getting them to our stores is essential. Before Brexit, the requirements were simple. Fill the lorry in the depot and send it on its way with one piece of paper listing what was in the trailer.

But tonight our trucks travelling to the Republic of Ireland were loaded yesterday and sat idle for 16 hours before the driver set off, now armed with over 200 pieces of paper. Paperwork that takes hours to complete and demands detail as niche as the latin name for the chicken that is used in our Chicken Tikka Masala. And that is just for the products we are able to send to our Irish stores. Sausages, burgers and some fresh sandwiches can no longer be sent from the UK at all.

At M&S we have the highest standards in the industry for our food but the Brexit rules - constructed to deal with cross-sea container ships carrying long-life or frozen food - pay that no attention. They weren’t designed for modern supermarkets shipping thousands of individual products a relatively short distance across the Irish sea every day. Plus they were developed in a pre-digital era; relying on paper documents and physical checks and inspections.

Today, almost everybody working in our depots is under the age of 50 and has grown up with computers. New starters at our depots look at us with bewilderment on day one when we have to ask them to pick up a pen and piece of paper to do the job. At any time, we can push a couple of buttons on a keyboard and see where every single one of our products is located – whether that’s in a depot, on a lorry, in a store or has just been bought by a customer. Officials are welcome to come and look any time they want.

The Windsor Framework has eased movements to Northern Ireland, but it has come with huge cost and complexity, not to mention the ridiculousness of the labelling requirements that French Brie and Italian parmesan destined for the UK and made to EU standards must have “Not for EU” printed on the packaging. As well as bureaucracy for us, it is extra cost and time for our European suppliers. Which takes us to the nub of the issue – there is no difference in food standards between the UK and the EU so why do the rules pretend that there is? 

The Government is also looking at securing a Veterinary Agreement with the EU that will reduce the unnecessary bureaucracy involved in moving lasagne from London to Dublin, as well as importing chorizo from Spain. Around 7,000 different M&S products destined for Irish customers – around a third of our catalogue - require Export Health Certificates. And each certificate, bizarrely, needs a signature from a vet - costing well over £1million a year in vet fees and adding hours of admin time. This can lead to very long delays, wasted food and gaps on shelves for our valued Irish customers. We wholeheartedly support the Government’s plan to negotiate a Veterinary Agreement; the benefits would be significant, there is no discernible downside, and we will offer whatever help we can to aid the negotiations.

Five years on, it is time to put an end to the Brexit bureaucracy that burdens both UK and Irish businesses. My ask of the Government is to move with pace of action, not just words – at a time when the UK’s food businesses and farmers need all the help they can get.