Scottish Seafood Companies Have ‘Weeks To Survive’ After Brexit

SCOTTISH Seafood Companies Have ‘Weeks To Survive’ After Brexit causes terrible delays in exports to the EU

An industry spokesman for Scottish seafood companies has said that the export delays now caused as a result of Brexit red tape mean that at the current rate, many of the companies have only a few more weeks before they go out of business.

The Environment Secretary has blamed ‘Brexit teething problems’, but the chief executive of Scottish Seafoods, Donna Fordyce, told Sky News, the sector is “on its knees” as exporters have to deal with delays caused by the new paperwork requirements brought in with the Brexit trade deal.

She added, “We’ve dealt with Covid since March, the border delays at Christmas, the whole sector is on its knees and the resilience has gone,” she said, blaming the “overwhelming amount” of bureaucracy and paperwork now involved.

Ms Fordyce stressed there are of course problems for companies on both sides of the Channel at the moment with everybody getting used to the transition, but “initially it’s actually trying to get the product out of the UK”, with the French market “desperate for our product”.