Brexit red tape is the ‘price you pay’ for freedoms, Andrea Leadsom insists as new food checks come into force

New trade frictions coming into force with the EU on Wednesday are the “price you pay” for sovereign freedoms, the Government controversially insisted on the fourth anniversary of Brexit.

Health minister Dame Andrea Leadsom, who was a prominent campaigner for Leave in 2016, ignited a fresh row as she denied that Britain’s divorce from the European Union was turning into a shambles despite growing public disenchantment with Brexiteers’ false promises.

“This just shows how out of touch this Conservative Government really is,” Liberal Democrat Treasury spokeswoman Sarah Olney MP told the Standard.

“British shops are feeling the hit of yet more red tape coming into effect today, right in the middle of a cost of living crisis. Conservative ministers have broken yet another promise and will not be forgiven by British businesses who are left to pick up the tab.”

From Wednesday, the Government is requiring imports from Europe of chilled and frozen meat and fish, cheese and diary items, along with some common types of cut flower, to be given a certificate from a European vet or health inspector before they can enter.

There are warnings the new red tape, delayed during the Covid pandemic, will add £330m a year in business costs and drive up prices for UK consumers or even lead to shortages.

“It was very clear in the Brexit discussions a long time ago now – today is the fourth anniversary of leaving the EU – it was very clear that we would be leaving the single market,” Dame Andrea told Times Radio – although she and other Brexiteers denied in the referendum campaign that that would be the case.

“What that does mean is that there is some friction in trade,” she said, while stressing new trade deals including one with Pacific nations as well as freedom to manoeuvre in financial services and medicines – which she claimed had accelerated Britain’s Covid vaccine.

“So there is a huge new opportunity for the UK at the same time as continuing to trade, albeit with some friction, which is the price you pay for leaving the single market and for being a sovereign state again,” the minister added.

“For me as a Brexiteer, I am still absolutely convinced that this is the right thing to do.”

In June 2016 Dame Andrea said, when pressed by Andrew Neil on the subject: “We will have the same access to the single market if we leave the EU.”

Former prime minister Boris Johnson, who also vowed minimal change during the referendum campaign, touted Brexit’s apparent benefits in a tweet on Wednesday.

“Four years on from Brexit we celebrate the restoration of this country’s democratic power to make its own laws and rules,” he said.

But following a new deal with DUP unionists regarding post-Brexit trade in Northern Ireland, he stressed: “We must retain the appetite and the courage to diverge from the low-growth high-regulation European model.”

Labour under Sir Keir Starmer has ditched its demands for a second referendum and now promises to renegotiate Britain’s withdrawal treaty to get better terms from Brussels.

Shadow Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq said a Labour government would look again at Britain’s trading relationship with the EU if businesses are “struggling” with the new checks.

She told Sky News: “If there are things that aren’t working, then of course we need to review it and look at it. We would look at look at where businesses are struggling, where the economy is struggling, and go and see if we can get a better deal for our country.

“That is what anyone who is in charge should be doing. They (voters) may have voted to leave the European Union, but they didn’t vote to get a bad deal,” Ms Siddiq added.

“(They) are still our closest trading partners. If we can work to get some sort of negotiation which is good for our country, I don’t think any British person is going to say no to our economy improving or our trade deals getting better.”

Outside Parliament on Wednesday, anti-Brexit protesters marked the anniversary by playing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy – the EU anthem.

Prominent anti-Brexiteer Gina Miller highlighted a new poll commissioned by her True & Fair Party that found that 54% of 18-26 year olds want to rejoin the EU.

“While the majority of Generation Z were denied a voice at the historic EU referendum, we must ensure they are not left behind in the post-Brexit era,” she said. “Crucially, they look forward to the day when Britain retakes its place in the European Union.”

More than three quarters (76%) of young people are set to vote in this year’s General Election, up from turnout of 47% by the same age group in 2019, the poll by FindOutNow of 2,000 adults aged 18-26 found.

Ms Miller said: “With a General Election on the horizon, Gen Z is emerging as a decisive force that could make or break political fortunes at the next election.”