Estelle Alley, Trade Marketing Specialist Retail GB, Bord Bia – The Irish Food Board
Key events this week:
Boris Johnson becomes PM
Former London mayor and foreign secretary Boris Johnson is the new leader of the UK Conservative Party and on Wednesday 24th July 2019 became Britain’s 77th prime minister. Theresa May took part in her final Prime Minister's Questions and officially resigned from office. Once in office, the new prime minister wasted no time in making over the Cabinet and bringing in Brexiteers to the top jobs.
Boris Johnson will chair his first Cabinet meeting this morning after overseeing the most brutal government reshuffle in decades.
The prime minister hosts his new Leadership team at Downing Street this morning, Thursday 25th July to discuss the priorities for his first 100 days in power and the need to deliver Brexit by October 31. Yesterday, 17 Cabinet and other top ministers were either sacked or resigned before they were pushed. Those newly appointed are most of the key figures who led the Leave campaign in 2016; ex-Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab as foreign secretary and Johnson's effective deputy, Priti Patel is home secretary, Sajid Javid, the former home secretary, is the new chancellor. Other key appointments include Michael Gove in the Cabinet Office, Dominic Cummings as de-facto chief of staff and the new Chief Whip is Mark Spencer. Julian Smith is new Northern Ireland secretary, ex chief whip who was expected to depart with the PM and has spent months working closely with the DUP. Gavin Williamson is now education secretary.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the new leader of the House of Commons, told ITV’s Robert Peston yesterday evening that a general election is “impossible to rule out, looking at the parliamentary arithmetic.” This appointment adds further momentum behind Johnson serious ambition to push a no-deal Brexit through parliament if necessary.
Jeremy Hunt, the former foreign secretary and second in the Tory leadership race, was offered a demotion, refused it, and will return to the back benches with Theresa May. Supporters of Hunt, even Brexiteers like Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt, were also unceremoniously fired.
Johnson 1st Speech at No 10
During his speech at No 10 yesterday, the new prime minister set out a broad domestic policy agenda that included reform of the U.K.'s ailing social care system, 20,000 additional police officers and a UK satellite navigation system. How he would pay for it all he did not say.
On Brexit Johnson pledged to ditch the "anti-democratic" Irish backstop Brexit plan, a key pillar of May's agreement indicating a predicted course, but looks destined to mean his attempt at renegotiation gets nowhere fast. He also pledged to guarantee of the rights of around 3 million EU citizens living in the EU.
Johnson concluded “With high hearts and growing confidence, we will now accelerate the work of getting ready, and the ports will be ready and the banks will be ready, and the factories will be ready, and business will be ready, and the hospitals will be ready." He announced he would “restore trust in our democracy…… fulfil the repeated promises of parliament to the people and come out of the EU on October 31……no ifs or buts.”
He also stated that there is only a “remote” chance the EU would not want to renegotiate.
Brussels greets Johnson’s victory by rejecting his Brexit demands
Boris Johnson’s election as Conservative leader has been greeted in Brussels with a rejection of the incoming British prime minister’s Brexit demands and an ominous warning by the newly appointed European commission president about the “challenging times ahead”. Ursula von der Leyen, who will replace Jean-Claude Juncker on 1 November, said both sides had a “duty” to deliver a deal as she offered her congratulations to Johnson on his victory. “There are many difficult issues we will tackle together,” she said. “It is important to build up a strong working relationship because we have a duty to deliver something which is good for the people in Europe and the United Kingdom.” Juncker later published a letter to Johnson in which he wrote of his hopes of working together in “in the best possible way”. European Council President Donald Tusk wrote in his congratulatory letter to Johnson that he’s “looking forward to meeting you to discuss, in detail, our cooperation.”
FDF urges new Prime Minister to avoid no-deal
The head of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) has called on the new Prime Minister Boris Johnson to avoid a potentially damaging no-deal Brexit as reported yesterday in the media. “The industry’s recently published ‘Plan for Success’ demonstrates how we can make the UK’s £4bn food chain the most dynamic, sustainable and competitive in the world. It shows how – working in partnership with Government – we can boost exports, develop talent and encourage innovation,” said FDF Chief Executive Ian Wright. “A no-deal Brexit would destroy that opportunity and much more. It will inflict serious and – in some cases mortal – damage on UK food and drink. Prices will rise, there will be significant shortages of some products, and disruption for shoppers and consumers will be far reaching. We urge the new Prime Minister and Government to work with us to deliver a withdrawal agreement that guarantees the closest possible trade and regulatory relationship with our nearest neighbours so UK food and drink can flourish.”
A note on the Northern Ireland Bill
MPs last week voted on legislation that could prevent the Prime Minister being able to suspend government. The change to the bill would require progress reports on restoring devolved government in Northern Ireland to be debated regularly in Parliament, therefore preventing it being prorogued. The bill comes after Boris Johnson refused to rule out suspending Parliament in October, which would in effect prevent them from being able to stop a no deal Brexit. A motion was put forward by Lord Duncan of Springbank (Conservative) that the amendment should not be agreed to.
Following a debate on the floor of the House, there was a division (vote) on the motion. 146 members voted in favour of the motion and 260 voted against, and so the motion was not agreed to and the Commons amendment was accepted.Both Houses have now agreed on the text of the bill. It awaits Royal Assent when it will become an Act of Parliament (law). Royal Assent was scheduled for 24 July.
Implications for Irish food & drink companies:
Boris Johnson has made it very clear with his ‘no ifs not buts’ campaign and his determined to leave the EU by October 31. The pound sterling strengthened slightly after two days of losses, hitting a three-week high compared with the euro. But the market on Wednesday still signalled pain ahead, betting on greater risk of a no-deal Brexit under Boris Johnson as economic stress worsens. It remains crucial that Irish food and drink manufacturers continue to prepare for all Brexit possibilities, including a no-deal Brexit.
The 2019 Brexit Barometer Industry Findings Report and Action Plan can now be downloaded from the Bord Bia website. The Action Plan provides practical information and outlines a number of steps that Irish food and drink companies can take in order to mitigate the risks posed by Brexit.
Bord Bia has also announced a new range of support services for Irish food and drink companies to help them to prepare for Brexit. There include:
Supply Chain Mentoring Programme
Customer Readiness Training
Financial Risk Mentoring Programme
Sanitary & Phytosanitary (SPS) Training Programme
Supply Chain Optimisation Workshop
Commercial Marketing Strategy Workshop
Key Customer Management Programme
Information on the support services can be found by following the above links. Alternatively, all information can be found on the Brexit page on the Bord Bia website: https://www.bordbia.ie/industry/trading-with-uk/
Looking ahead:
July 25 is Last day of parliament
While Mr Johnson finalises his cabinet, MPs opposed to his “do or die” pledge to take the UK out of the EU by October 31 with or without a deal, will have one day to act before parliament packs up for the summer holidays. With the Labour party still divided over Brexit, MPs opposed to a no-deal Brexit may wait to see if Mr Johnson softens his position before launching a bid to stop the UK from crashing out of Europe without a deal when parliament returns in the autumn.
Aug 24 G7 leaders meet
After taking office Mr Johnson is expected to meet fellow leaders for talks across European capitals, including Paris, Berlin and Dublin. Meanwhile, EU Brexit negotiators are on standby throughout the month of August making discussions difficult for Britain’s new prime minister to talk should he want. The two-day summit will also offer the new prime minister a chance to meet with US President Donald Trump, who has backed Mr Johnson to solve Brexit.
Sept 3 Parliament return for session
If Mr Johnson’s initial negotiations with EU leaders have hit a brick wall, then MPs opposed to a no-deal Brexit will have to move quickly to find ways of blocking the prime minister if he is intent on crashing out on October 31.
Oct 31 is the current Brexit deadline