Defra’s ‘complacency’ leaves UK ill-prepared for Brexit say MPS

Even as Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday sought to convince her Cabinet to support the proposed Brexit deal, an influential Commons select committee was warning that the UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is “too complacent” about potential disruption likely to be caused by the UK’S exit from the EU.

The public accounts committee said that fundamental issues for food, chemical and animal importers and exporters had yet to be addressed and added that inadequate engagement with businesses meant that small and medium sized enterprises were particularly ill-prepared.

A report published yesterday by the committee called Defra “unaware and ill-prepared’ and stated that many businesses had not been given detailed advice on what was required by EU Exit – because the department had very limited engagement with stakeholders.

It added that recent attempts to rectify the situation had been “too little, too late”, adding that Defra’s ability to impart information had been hampered by excessive secrecy at the centre of government and continuing uncertainty over the outcome of the negotiations.

The committee also expressed concerns that the sheer workload and the speed with which new legislation would be required meant there was a real risk that this would not be subjected to proper scrutiny.

Committee chair Meg Hillier MP, said that Defra was a long way from being ready for Brexit: “Border planning is not sufficiently developed, six critical IT systems still have to be tested and there is a risk that the quality of legislation will suffer in the rush to draw it up.”