Doubts Surround U.K.’s Readiness for Brexit

Gibbs says that the Science Policy Research Unit report is only one of several reports “highlighting that the U.K. is heading off a cliff edge on March 29, 2019.” The increasing volume of alarm has caught the ear of the government.

“There does seem to be a recent dawning of realization in the government that this would be a bad outcome,” he says. “There have been media reports that the government is now united in the need for a transitional arrangement post-Brexit, possibly extending to 2022, that would give businesses the opportunity to make firm plans.”

Prof. Millstone and his colleagues, however, do not feel that the questions they pose have yet been addressed. He goes so far as to doubt they ever will be adequately addressed.

“We therefore anticipate further initiatives to ensure that issues of food safety and the protection of public and environmental health are not ignored or neglected in the foreseeable future,” Prof. Millstone says. “We understand food security to be a system that provides a food supply that is sufficient, safe, sustainable, and equitable, and we are very concerned that Brexit poses serious risks to all four of those goals.”