The UK’s post-Brexit borders have not been secure enough against the threat of disease outbreaks in Europe, MPs claimed as they grilled a Defra minister over a rise in illegal meat imports.
A committee inquiry over the biosecurity levels at the UK’s busiest borders on Tuesday highlighted the challenges faced by under-resourced port health authorities in charge of stopping diseases such as foot and mouth from entering the UK.
It emerged that at least three consignments carrying German products that should have been banned from entering Britain due to foot and mouth risks managed to clear the post-Brexit systems designed to stop them.
Health authorities in Dover, which processes most of the goods imported from Europe, have also reported an increase in illegal meat imports coming through both commercial and import routes.
Almost 60 tonnes of illegal meat was seized in Dover in the first three months of the year, according to the port health authority.
Officials have repeatedly warned that cuts to funding and an absolute “breakdown in communications” between border and port health authorities and Defra have opened the doors to potential criminals – and catastrophic diseases that could ravage the British farming industry.
“It’s really important that we get a grip on this because this is a long-running problem that our biosecurity at Dover and other ports is not efficient and were there to be a major notifiable disease outbreak I fear there would be serious repercussions afterwards because I don’t think the borders are secure”, warned Conservative MP Charlie Dewhirst.
Read more: Banned German meat imports ’entered the UK for a week’ despite foot and mouth outbreak
He was among a group from the Efra select committee, which quizzed Baroness Sue Hayman of Ullock, parliamentary under-secretary of state for Defra, on the government’s ability to enforce biosecurity measures at Britain’s borders amid the rise in threats to food safety.
The hearing was the committee’s final evidence session of its biosecurity at the border focus, which has brought to light a mountain of damning evidence about the state of the UK’s post-Brexit systems.
These have come under scrutiny recently because of increased reports of illegal meat imports coming from Europe being intercepted at the southern borders, raising fears that highly contagious diseases like foot and mouth and African swine fever could be entering the UK.
Britain has been running checks on some high-risk EU goods since April last year, as part of the Border Target Operating Model.
But the BTOM has had several teething problems, with reports from the borders painting a picture of inefficiency, delays, and constant tech glitches.
Hayman acknowledged the challenges faced by the teams on the ground and claimed the department was “working closely with Dover to resolve the issues”.
Read more: Illegal meat imports rise as officials warn of weak Brexit border controls
But the select committee, which recently visited Dover to witness first-hand the conditions in which potentially risky plant and animal products are examined – often “under rusty canopies with birds nesting” set up on vehicle live lanes and with no access to PPE but gloves – pressed the minister on funding for border teams as well as contingency planning and the enforcement of the recently imposed ban on personal imports of meat and dairy from the EU.
MPs were discontent with the fact that communications between Dover and other inland health authorities and Defra were essentially “non-existent” for months, and urged Hayman to visit the facilities herself.
The minister pledged to improve relations with local teams and to overhaul budgets in a bid to improve the efficiency of plant and animal checks at the border.
No comments yet