​M&S chief slams Irish Sea border ‘cost and complexity’ - but wants Safeguarding the Union labelling pledge scrapped

​Alex Freudmann – managing director of food at the company – has hit out at delays in getting food products into Northern Ireland.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he has also said he does not want ‘not for EU’ labelling rolled out across Great Britain – something that was promised in the ‘Safeguarding the Union’ deal and seen as a way of protecting consumer choice in supermarkets in the province.

The Ulster Unionist Party said his intervention exposes the absurdities of the Irish Sea border, while the TUV said the level of bureaucracy has not improved but deteriorated as a result of Windsor Framework.

In his article in the Daily Telegraph Mr Freudmann criticised the “sloth-like speed with which food crosses the Irish Sea” – saying that it has barely moved on in the five years since the UK left the EU.

He said: “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.”

The supermarket boss added: “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? We are asking the UK government to work with the EU to stop the ‘not for EU’ labelling being extended across Great Britain.”

The ‘Safeguarding the Union’ deal between the last government and the DUP pledged to extend a Windsor Framework requirement for certain food products sold in Northern Ireland to have ‘not for EU’ labelling to the rest of the UK.

However, the Labour government dropped that commitment in September after lobbying from businesses on the mainland, who were concerned about the costs. It has instead pledged to monitor the availability of products on supermarket shelves in Northern Ireland and only implement the policy if it decides that a problem is developing.

Ulster Unionist MLA Steve Aiken, who sits on Stormont’s Windsor Framework democratic scrutiny committee, said the current arrangements are helping no-one.

He said the remarks by M&S “should not come as a surprise and it is good to see that some major companies, at long last, are exposing the absurdities of the Irish Sea border.

“However, while major companies, like our national supermarkets, have the ability to manage the Kafkaesque levels of bureaucracy, our SME sector, in both NI and GB, do not. Market disruption and divergence is already occurring, with increasing costs being passed on to the consumer.

“Far from being the 'best' of both, two levels of nugatory administration, that helps no one, the people of Northern Ireland and Great Britain are being ill-served. While many today are focusing on EU/US tariff battles, it is the non-tariff barriers that are nearly, if not more, damaging.

“That these barriers are internal to our own nation, just shows how perverse the WF and protocol is. It’s not just 18 M&S lorries being delayed for hours by literal paperwork, it’s everyone being disadvantaged.”

Dr Dan Boucher from the TUV said: “The actual level of bureaucracy in relation to the movement of food between Great Britain and Northern Ireland has not improved but deteriorated as a result of Windsor Framework.”

He added: “As things stand it is expected that going forward the situation will generally get worse rather than better because the food/plant border is not properly enforced at the moment and will not be until the new border control posts are completed at Larne, Belfast and Warrenpoint and come into operation from July.”

He also warned that from February 24 “we will see the start of the application of the Irish Sea border for goods movements from Northern Ireland to Great Britain”.