Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 16, 2025

Covid-19 isolation gives Britain a taste of 'no-deal' Brexit chaos

Covid-19 isolation gives Britain a taste of 'no-deal' Brexit chaos

France has suspended transport links with Britain after a new Covid-19 variant emerged in southern England, adding to growing chaos at UK ports and giving the country a taste of the potential disruption to food and other vital supplies that could accompany a "no-deal" Brexit in just 10 days' time.

Dozens of countries in Europe and around the world have halted flights from the United Kingdom, and the French government announced a 48-hour ban on truckers using ferry and rail routes from England to France after a potentially highly-infectious coronavirus mutation was blamed for a Christmas lockdown in London and the surrounding areas.

UK supermarkets and supply chain experts warned of potential shortages of some products if the French restrictions aren't eased soon. The UK government held a crisis meeting Monday.

One major supermarket chain, Sainsbury's (JSAIY), said it had stockpiled enough produce to prevent Brits going without their Christmas dinners but warned of shortages of some fresh fruit and vegetables if the situation doesn't improve soon.

"If nothing changes, we will will start to see gaps over the coming days on lettuce, salad leaves, cauliflowers, broccoli, citrus fruit — all of which are imported from EU at this time of year," Sainsbury's said in a statement. "We hope UK and French [governments] can come to a solution that prioritizes immediate passage of produce and food."

January could be difficult


Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to assuage public fears in a press conference Monday, saying he had spoken with French President Emmanuel Macron and that both sides were working toward a quick resolution.

He stressed that British supermarket supply chains are "strong and robust," and that the "vast majority of food and medicine supplies are coming and going as normal."

The industry that operates frozen and chilled storage facilities and temperature-controlled vehicles said there was no reason for shoppers to panic, given the UK food supply chain was well stocked for the peak holiday period.

"As we learnt in March, the biggest cause of products running out on the shelves will be unnecessary and excessive buying," said Cold Chain Federation Chief
Executive Shane Brennan. "We urge everyone to play their part and buy only what they genuinely need."

But "urgent agreements" were needed between the United Kingdom and EU governments if problems were to be avoided in the new year. "An extended period of stopped movement now will cause significant problems for supply chains in January," Brennan added.

That sentiment was echoed by the British Retail Consortium, which represents over 170 major retailers plus thousands of smaller businesses.

"Retailers have stocked up on goods ahead of Christmas which should prevent immediate problems," said Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium. "However, any prolonged closure of the French border would be a problem as the UK enters the final weeks before the [Brexit] transition ends on [Dec. 31]."

The Brexit factor


UK ports were already under serious strain before the new coronavirus variant sparked chaos at the border.

The United Kingdom left the European Union earlier this year but has continued to enjoy free trade with the EU market of 450 million people under transitional arrangements that expire on Dec. 31. Talks on a new agreement to avoid tariffs and quotas on about half of Britain's foreign trade remained deadlocked over the weekend, and the risk that Brexit will end without a trade deal remains high.

Stockpiling ahead of the end of the Brexit transition period and an increase in orders over the Christmas holiday created huge logjams in recent days. Last week, CNN journalists witnessed trucks backed up for more than 10 miles on the approach to the port of Dover, with truckers reporting waits of multiple hours.

Dover accounts for about 17% of UK goods trade. It handled 2.4 million trucks in 2019, and another 1.6 million passed through the nearby Eurotunnel under the Channel.



Businesses are increasingly worried that a Brexit deal won't materialize, and they have been racing to get goods into the country before year-end. New customs checks and paperwork will result in significant delays to shipments, while tariffs and quotas would pile on the pain in a "no-deal" scenario.

Earlier this month, Honda was forced to halt production at a major plant in England because parts deliveries were delayed, a sign of how quickly supply chain issues can cause disruptions. Honda said Monday it was monitoring the situation at UK ports, adding it currently did not anticipate any impact on production.

Toyota also said it has decided to shut its manufacturing plants in France and the United Kingdom earlier than planned for the winter break.

The company blamed UK traffic bans from a growing number of countries and the "uncertain nature of how long the borders will be closed for logistics activities."

France said Monday that it wants a new European-wide health protocol that would allow cross-border traffic to resume, while British traders are calling for truck drivers to be tested for Covid-19 in order to restore confidence.

"We have our drivers who do not want to go to the UK because of fear to not be able to come back as the borders are closed," said Vanessa Ibarlucea, a spokesperson for the French National Road Haulage Federation. "It is going to cause an issue regarding the flows which are likely to stop, and therefore cause a drying-up of supply across the Channel ahead of the Brexit day."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
×