Guernsey passes on Co-op offer of help
GUERNSEY has ruled out striking any deals with food retailers to maintain extra stocks to help cope with a no-deal Brexit after Jersey announced an arrangement with the Co-op.
Jersey’s external relations minister, Senator Ian Gorst, said he was delighted with the support offered by the Channel Islands Co-operative Society to ‘provide increased resilience to the island’s supplies’ in advance of Brexit.
‘We are increasingly confident that there will be sufficient food and essential goods stored in Jersey, so that islanders should not feel the need to overstock at home.’
The States of Guernsey said it had been planning in partnership with the island’s food retailers for many months, in case of a no-deal scenario.
‘We are confident in those preparations and we thank our colleagues in the industry for their continuing contribution.
‘Our expectations continue to be that Guernsey may experience a limited amount of disruption with regards to the choice of products, and that any disruption will likely be similar to the situation islanders’ are well-used to experiencing at times, such as during winter storms,’ said a spokesman.
‘While we have not made any specific agreements with any one retailer, our preparations have been made through close working with the entire food retail industry.’
The Co-op’s chief executive officer, Colin Macleod, said: ‘The Channel Islands Co-operative Society made similar offers of support to the governments of both islands.
‘While we have actively engaged with Guernsey, we respect and understand the States’ current view that the existing contingency planning that the food supply chain has undertaken in Guernsey is sufficient. However, the society is standing ready should that situation change.
‘We do not have any reason to believe there will be significant disruption to the supply lines in the event of a no-deal Brexit, and at worst Guernsey consumers would only perhaps notice their range of choice diminished while things settle down.’
Yesterday, MPs were engaged in a series of indicative votes as they tried to reach a consensus on what to do about Brexit having rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal twice.
That could still come back for another vote.
Brexit was due to take place tomorrow, but the earliest it is likely to happen now is 12 April.
