Saturday, April 06, 2019

Why shouldn't people take pork pies to Europe?


From The Scotsman a couple of days ago:
Britons travelling to the EU will no longer be able to carry meat and dairy products with them in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the European Commission warned. 
EU Customs Commissioner Pierre Muscovici said the risk of a no-deal Brexit and major disruption was increasing, and said customs checks would “apply to all goods arriving from the UK”. 
Tourists would be prevented from carrying British cheeses and meats with them to the continent.
This is a good reminder that, far from reducing red tape as its proponents imagine, Brexit would introduce a 1001 small and large annoyances into our lives.

So you might expect Remain campaigners to have made something of it.

Yet almost all the comment on this story I have seen from our side of the debate has been concerned with laughing at people who might want to take British food with them.

Some Remainers have gone on to list all the Continental foods they enjoy in a self-congratulatory way.

If there is a second referendum I want Remain to win it. These snobbish attitudes will be no help in achieving that goal. Freedom of movement is for everyone: not just Guardian readers.

Besides, I am a Liberal. I want to be able to get on a train at St Pancras and take a pork pie anywhere I damn well please.

No comments:

Post a Comment