You have to keep on reminding yourself of the past. You have to cling to it, so you know you’re not going mad. You have to remember the lies and the disingenuousness and the mendacious gibberish.

Because now, as it all comes tumbling down, they must be made to own it. We have to make sure we’re never fooled this way again.

Today, Britain finally introduced its post-Brexit controls on food, plant and animal imports from Europe, after delaying it five times. In April it will get worse, with the introduction of laborious and time-consuming physical inspections.

British exporters have been suffering the consequence of these checks for three years. Now they’ll apply the other way too. But exporters and importers are only the first line of pain. The costs – in time, staff and money – are eventually passed on to the consumer.

That’s what Brexit sovereignty tastes like: the freedom to pay higher prices in a cost of living crisis.

Apart from their immediate cost, checks require the resolution of complex and disparate capacity problems. You need to make sure you have enough vets to sign off on health certificates, for instance. We’ve known that this was a weak point for years. Most vets go into the business so they can cure a family dog, not so they can evaluate abattoirs. It’s low-paid, under-recognised work. But whenever these........

© iNews