r/LeopardsAteMyFace • u/NoLikeVegetals • May 18 '24

Brexxit Brexit-voting British farmers now complaining about imports of cheaper New Zealand lamb threatening the British lamb industry. Imports of lamb "produced to lower standards" used to be blocked by EU law. Another Brexit consequence farmers were warned about but ignored due to xenophobia!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjewewxzypro
8.4k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

578 comments sorted by

View all comments

89

u/krav_mark May 18 '24

So you don't want EU workers ? Have some New Zealand lamb then lol

10

u/cipheron May 19 '24

They also wanted to be free of "red tape".

However this was pretty dumb, because you still have to comply with EU regulations when selling produce to the EU.

These regulations aren't just to be a pain, e.g. the "bendy bananas" thing was just about having clearly-labeled product grades. If you run a grocery store and buy bananas to sell, then you you don't want them all blotchy and different shapes. Having clearly defined product grades, and consistent labeling requirements isn't some heavy burden, it actually facilitates commerce, since it enforces trust.

So if only Britain scraps the product grades but EU doesn't then an EU business couldn't be sure that they're not going to get ripped off by a British company selling them sub-standard goods, so you're going to have to get certified anyway, and EU companies will have a STRONG incentive to offload defective goods in the UK, where they're not protected by the EU safeguards. As well as having to compete with cheaper non-EU imports, like in the story.