Percy Pigs among products hit by Brexit red tape at Irish border

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Customers in Ireland could soon be deprived of Marks & Spencer’s Percy Pigs, with the famed sweets among the first items to fall foul of Brexit red tape. “Essentially, there is about a third of the product in our food business that is subject to very complex rules of origin arrangements, around the components within it, and how much has been altered in the UK,” said Marks & Spencer chief executive Steve Rowe in the firm’s Christmas update, as he revealed the retailer’s sales fell by seven per cent in the run-up to the festive period. “And, at the moment, making sure we've got constant continuity of supply in our Irish business.” Meanwhile, the Republic of Ireland has been forced to temporarily ease customs checks on shipments from Great Britain after hauliers warned Brexit bureaucracy could lead to imminent shortages, with a backlog of hundreds of lorries starting to build in England and Wales. But Eugene Drennan, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association, told The Independent that the temporary relaxation amounted to a “sticking plaster on an open wound”, warning: “It won’t be enough.” Mr Drennan called for a three-month derogation from EU customs checks to allow companies to adapt, as the IHRA blamed the problems on IT systems that are not working properly and had not been tested, meaning businesses have not had time to get used to the new process.