It’s been a bad week for Brexit and its supporters; the shit in the sea has become a world wide disgrace after disrupting a world triathlon competition. The government have also delayed the introduction of the agreed border controls to implement the customs checks and they have abandoned the plan to have a UK quality standard.
The Guardian covered the story, claiming 57 competitors in the World Triathlon competition. There is some dispute as to whether the water was known to be unsafe and a long term dispute about the level of discharge in the water. Leave it to an Australian to clearly define the problem, ‘Jacob Birtwhistle, 28, an Australian triathlete, posted the Environment Agency’s results on Instagram and said he had felt unwell after the event. He wrote: “Have been feeling pretty rubbish since the race, but I guess that’s what happens when you swim in shit. The swim should have been cancelled.”’
The FT also reports that the UK will now recognise the EU’s product safety mark indefinitely, in the latest climbdown from proposed post-Brexit changes, after the government bowed to pressure from industry and manufacturers as they do not want to have to conform to two quality marks and cannot afford to abandon the EU’s CE (Conformité Européenne) mark.
The final humiliation, as the Guadian reports, is that for the fifth time, the government are delaying the introduction of import checks on EU food. This is being done because many importers are not ready to meet the inspections and paperwork required. The likely effect would be shortages and price increases, although domestic competitors with the EU are unhappy that their exports are subject to such checks; they see it as a competitive disadvantage.
Brexit isn’t working and cannot work.