Fortnum & Mason chief urges Sunak to seal NI trade deal

Fortnum and Mason chief executive Tom Athron has reportedly urged Sunak to seal a deal with Brussels on post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland.

He told the Financial Times that the British government needed to “invest some time improving its relationship with the EU”, and agree post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland as without it, it is “almost impossible” for food retailers to export to the EU.

The arrangement, which could happen as soon as this week, is required for the development of UK-EU relations, according to Athron, who was speaking to the Financial Times in Hong Kong while on a scoping trip for the department store’s Asian growth.

The rest of the discussion about Britain’s commercial relationship with Europe will actually start to improve if that is resolved, according to Athron.

The remarks highlight growing business apprehensions regarding the agreement, which has prompted hopes of a rapprochement with the EU on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to the report, Sunak has also been trying to overcome resistance from unionists in Northern Ireland and Eurosceptic Tory MPs in order to pass the accord.

The report highlighted that post Brexit, food exporters to the EU have been among the hardest-hit businesses. Athron said that Fortnum & Mason was forced to temporarily halt its Europe deliveries, which cost him 10% of his business.

He said: “The government needed to invest some time improving its relationship with the EU, which was only possible once the architects of Brexit were out of the picture.

“The EU were always going to struggle to deal with them . . . Rishi is sort of one step towards that. And then whoever leads the next government I suspect, there will be another step.”

He added: “No one wins when you can’t export like this. The EU doesn’t win, the UK doesn’t win, we would be much better off finding a way through this.”