M&S speaks out – for further six month extension to grace period
M&S has spoken out and asked for a further six-month extension to the grace period, before checks on supermarkets goods moving from Great Britain into Northern Ireland are implemented.
M&S is the first supermarket to speak out, calling for another extension after October. M&S has said that 96% of its suppliers attending its recent conference backed its call for the extension.
Suppliers are saying that the sector needs certainty – especially in the run up to Christmas – the period from the end of October to the end of the year is crucial in supply terms.
The sector is calling for the government to engage with retailers and the wider food supply chain to find a solution that protects standards through a common sense approach to compliance.
Uncertainty for Christmas supplies
M&S Chairman Archie Norman told BBC Radio 4 that M&S was already cutting its Christmas range due to uncertainties. Mr Norman said the current EU arrangements are “totally unsuitable and were never designed for a modern fresh food supply chain between closely intertwined trading partners.”
The UK and the EU are in talks over reducing the number of checks for Northern Ireland ahead of their full introduction in October. So far however, little progress has been made.
Aodhán Connolly, director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, said that supermarkets need to know by August what the arrangements will be to allow time to make key decisions on sourcing.
EU legal action paused
Brexit minister Lord Frost has called for a freeze on the current situation to indefinitely extend the existing grace periods on checks until a new settlement is reached. It is unclear whether Brussels will agree to further extensions. The EU paused its legal action against the British government in an attempt to de-escalate tensions over Northern Ireland. The EU started the process after the UK unilaterally extended the grace periods in March. The EU move is aimed at preventing any further deterioration in relations before the grace periods are due to end.
