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The Chief Executive of Irish An Post, David McRedmond, lashed out at the UK Government for failing to ensure Royal Mail implements agreed post-Brexit rules to smoothen its services.
The furious Irish director said Royal Mail has a “responsibility to ensure trade is facilitated”, arguing its failure to comply with post-Brexit customs rules is costing British SMEs Irish customers.
Writing in the Letters section of the Financial Times, Mr McRedmond blasted: “For reasons not clear, the UK Post Office has refused to implement the necessary systems to comply with the new EU customs rules that applied to the UK after Brexit.
“The UK Government appears uninterested. Consequently at An Post, the Irish postal service, we have to return thousands of items daily back to Great Britain as they fail EU Customs’ checks.”
He added: “The level of disruption for SMEs has caused many of them to simply not bother trading with Ireland, a full member state of the EU (and where the EU customs rules have been introduced first).
“Trade from Great Britain to Ireland through postal channels has fallen by 52 percent in one year.”
He urged the UK Government to “insist immediately that Post Office Limited implement the required procedures”.
He warned: “If it is not too late – but it’s already close to that for many SMEs – these steps could have an immediate and positive economic impact on the SME sector and the millions they employ, a sector regularly described by the government as the backbone of the British economy.”
The message comes as the UK and the EU are still locking horns on the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the UK wants to see an agreement with the EU over controversial post-Brexit trading arrangements “as soon as possible.”
He declined to indicate whether he anticipates a deal by February, as he said: “Of course we want to see a settlement with regard to the issues around the Northern Ireland Protocol.
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“We would much prefer to see that through a negotiation and we would like the negotiations to be successful as soon as possible, subject to us being able to address the genuine concerns that we’ve put forward.”
Mr Cleverly added he regularly speaks with European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic and talks are best done privately rather than through “megaphone negotiations”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has brought back a leading Brexit campaigner in a bid to “reassure” Tory MPs in the European Research Group.
Mr Sunak has also put Ulster’s Protocol Bill on ice until the new year as private talks suggest the new deal could be reached by February, a report has claimed. According to the Times, senior officials claim the Bill will not return to the House of Lords this year.
The legislation was designed to give the UK the right to unilaterally suspend aspects of Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit agreement if there is no deal with the Brussels bloc.
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The delay is expected to frustrate ERG members but Mr Sunak, who campaigned for Brexit, has brought back a Eurosceptic figure to work as an intermediary.
Former Vote Leave aide Oliver Lewis, who worked as Lord David Frost’s negotiating deputy, is now working as an unpaid figure in an attempt to win over the ERG.
A Government source told the Times that Mr Lewis will work to “reassure them they are being listened to and are in the loop”.
The EU is also expected to give up some ground on data-sharing and the role of the European Court of Justice.
Mr Sunak looks poised to bring back the Brexit Opportunities Unit to win over more support from Leave supporters.
The unit could play a pivotal role as the UK looks to transfer retained EU law into domestic legislation and hopes to use its departure from the bloc as a “golden opportunity” for the City.
