M&S rents warehouse just to store post-Brexit paperwork, boss reveals
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Ex-Tory MP and M&S chairman said ‘it is quite extraordinary… you wouldn’t believe it’, but the retailer has to store thousands of pages of documents in a warehouse in the Republic of Ireland for six years after taking food across the border. Marks & Spencer has had to rent a warehouse just to store piles of Brexit paperwork that “nobody looked at in the first place”, the retailer’s chairman has revealed.
![[Keir Starmer is seeking closer ties with the EU]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/10/18/11/SEI224173584.jpg)
Archie Norman, who is also an ex-Tory MP, said “it is quite extraordinary… you wouldn’t believe it”, but that the retailer has to store thousands of pages of documents in a warehouse in the Republic of Ireland for six years after taking food across the border.
![[Brexit paperwork has blighted firms hoping to sell goods in the EU]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/03/10/18/PRI223858649.jpg)
And, lashing out at the devastating financial impact Brexit has had on the beloved British firm, Mr Norman called for Sir Keir Starmer to strike a deal with the EU on food standards to “get rid of all these ridiculous restrictions on trade”. Speaking to Times Radio last Friday, Mr Norman said: “In Ireland, our food business there, which is good business, but we don’t make much money out of it because of the border controls.
“It’s not just the 700 pages of text, we have to keep all the documentation that goes with our wagons into the Republic of Ireland for six years in a warehouse. “So we rented a warehouse to store these bits of paper that nobody looked at in the first place. I mean, you wouldn’t believe it, but it is quite extraordinary.”.
The striking intervention comes amid a bid by the prime minister to reset Britain’s post-Brexit relationship with Europe. Sir Keir is chasing closer ties with the bloc, but has so far refused to set out exactly what he wants to achieve in talks with EU leaders.
