By Colin Taylor, CEO of Rick Bestwick, Part of the Magnavale Group and industry leader for temperature-controlled storage of food products.
There have been several key developments in the last few days, foremost among these are the overheard comments of Olly Robbins, that the only options were going to be May’s deal or a lengthy delay to Brexit, and the noticeably increased, steely determination of the Prime Minister to secure and pass a deal before the 29th of March.
Prime Minister’s Questions on the 13th goes to show the growing nervousness of MP’s on the run up to the deadline. Sir Ian Blackford’s comment that businesses were “begging for certainty” strikes true, there is a definite sense of breath being held in the food industry. However, now that almost everyone has secured their plans for the worst-case scenario, by moving their stock from warehouses in mainland Europe to the UK and stockpiling additional products there is a new feeling brewing, one of optimism. The governor of the Bank of England recently commented that the trade deals that could be struck once we ‘Brexited’, could lead to a “golden age of trade”.
Many UK manufacturers are now waking up to the fact that in just a few weeks’ time, new markets for their products will start to open and they need to be ready for that
