Irish Examiner View: Beware of Jacob Rees-Moggs bearing gifts

Ireland should welcome the UK's plans to roll out a new digital border — unless a darker purpose becomes apparent. 

British minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency Jacob Rees-Mogg. Picture: Victoria Jones/PA Wire

On the face of it, it is possible to give two cheers for the potential abandonment of the introduction of routine post-Brexit border inspections on food entering Britain from the EU. 

But in dealing with the current administration, we must always bear in mind an expression which has been around since the days of Virgil: “Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes”, Fear the Greeks, even when they bear gifts.

Whatever the real reasons are for Britain’s change of stance on ports, having already invested many millions in establishing physical infrastructure for import checks on animals, meat, and other agricultural products from this July, it is unlikely to simply be a celebration of the merits of free trade. But Ireland should welcome it, unless a darker purpose becomes apparent.

Despite all the anxiety, figures released by Bord Bia at the start of this year showed that 2021 exports of Irish food, drink, and horticulture to Britain remained relatively constant at €4.4bn compared to 2020. This is despite the impact of Covid and the fact that Britain is now outside the EU customs union. 

It remains a primary export market for the Republic of Ireland. Last year, it took 33% of our total international output, the same percentage as the rest of the EU combined.

When prepared consumer foods (confectionery, bakery and snacks, cooked meats, and frozen goods) are measured, Britain takes two-thirds of our exports, a market worth €1.7bn. Ostensibly, our neighbours say they do not want to exacerbate supply-chain problems and potentially increase the price of food at a time when the cost of living is a fever-hot topic everywhere. 

Rather than extend the deadline for tests yet again, they are accelerating plans to roll out a new digital border where goods crossing their frontiers will only be subject to physical checks on a basis of risk. That is now to be implemented in 2023 rather than 2025. As a trusted supplier, Ireland should benefit from this movement in policy.

The alteration is signalled after a new report from the London School of Economics indicates that Brexit has taken a greater toll on European companies exporting to Britain than on British companies trading with Europe, although smaller British firms have been disproportionately impacted by the higher levels of cost, administration, and bureaucracy that are now involved in trading with the continent.

Within that lies a more subtle reason for Jacob Rees-Mogg, minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency, changing lanes. The British will now argue that if the UK is not imposing food checks on goods entering from the EU, there is little or no justification for a hardline approach to the border in the Irish Sea. 

That tracks directly back to the Northern Ireland Protocol and its future, about which we will hear much more during next week’s elections in the North.

Ireland has serious skin in this game. It is worth asking the same question about Rees-Mogg’s actions that Austro-Hungarian statesman Metternich posed when told that his French rival Talleyrand had died: “What does he mean by that?”