Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — Some British dairy farmers have been forced to destroy tens of thousands of litres of milk due to rising costs, labour shortages and an acute deficit of truck drivers which has strained supply chains to breaking point, farmers said. A post-Brexit shortage of workers, exacerbated by the global strains of the […] Read more
British milk sours amid labour crisis
Britain facing mass cull of pigs due to butcher shortage
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — Britain’s farming industry has warned that hundreds of thousands of pigs may have to be culled within weeks unless the government issues visas to allow more butchers into the country. An acute shortage of butchers and slaughterers in the meat processing industry has been exacerbated by COVID-19 and Britain’s post-Brexit immigration […] Read more
Britain begins negotiations to join Trans-Pacific pact
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — Britain will begin negotiations on Tuesday to join a trans-Pacific trade deal that it sees as crucial to its post-Brexit pivot away from Europe and toward geographically more distant but faster-growing economies. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) removes 95 per cent of tariffs between its members: Japan, […] Read more
Trans-Pacific trade partners agree for U.K. to start joining process
Reading Time: < 1 minute Tokyo | Reuters — Member nations of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on Wednesday officially agreed to allow the United Kingdom to start the process of joining the pact, Japan’s economy minister said. Japanese Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters he welcomed the start of Britain’s joining process after hosting an […] Read more
U.K. to ask to join Trans-Pacific trading bloc ‘shortly’
Bilateral deals signed or in works with several CPTPP members
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — Britain will soon submit its application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade bloc, trade minister Liz Truss said on Wednesday. Since deciding to leave the European Union, a process it completed at the end of 2020, Britain has been seeking out new trading arrangements around […] Read more
Britain, Canada agree on post-Brexit rollover trade deal
Tailor-made comprehensive pact expected to follow
Reading Time: 2 minutes London/Toronto | Reuters — Britain and Canada struck a rollover trade deal on Saturday to protect the flow of almost $35 billion-worth of goods and services between them after Brexit, and vowed to start talks on a bespoke agreement next year. As Britain prepares to end its transition out of the European Union on Dec. […] Read more
Britain to protect pork pies, whisky with new scheme after EU exit
Reading Time: < 1 minute London | Reuters — New rules to guarantee the authenticity and origin of traditional British foods, such as Stilton cheese and Melton Mowbray pork pies, after the end of the UK’s Brexit transition period, were set out by the government on Thursday. Britain left the European Union at the end of January and an 11-month […] Read more
Canada’s pace in trade talks with U.K. raising frustration
Doubts remain on potential benefits for Canadian farmers
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) is expressing frustration over the pace at which Canada is engaging the United Kingdom toward a post-Brexit free trade deal. Steve Verheul, assistant deputy minister of trade policy and negotiations at Global Affairs Canada, told a parliamentary committee any deal between the two countries will be impacted by European […] Read more
Britain launches farm bill as Brexit paves way for major reforms
Reading Time: < 1 minute London | Reuters — An agriculture bill will be introduced in Britain’s parliament on Thursday, with funding for the industry increasingly linked to tackling environmental challenges as the country develops its own farm policy for the first time in decades. Britain currently abides by the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy but is set to leave the […] Read more
Worst-case no-deal Brexit plan warns of food shortages
Reading Time: < 1 minute London | Reuters — The British government’s plans for a no-deal Brexit warn of severe disruption to cross-Channel routes, affecting the supply of medicines and certain types of fresh foods, and say that protests and counter-protests will take place across the country, accompanied by a possible rise in public disorder. The “Operation Yellowhammer” worst-case assumptions […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
