John Longworth, the Director-General of the British Chambers of Commerce turned Brexit Party MEP, has hailed a guarantee from Britain’s biggest insulin supplier that there will be no shortages of the medication if the country makes a clean, no-deal break with the European Union at the end of October.
Longworth, who stepped down from his top business position to campaign for a Leave vote in the 2016 referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union, highlighted Novo Nordisk’s September 12th response to “hysterical Remain Project Fear merchants” claiming that Britons will be deprived of essential medicines if the British governments finds the EU is not willing to agree reasonable terms opts to for an exit on standard World Trade Organization (WTO) terms — “no deal”.
“As the UK’s largest insulin supplier, we have increased our stock of insulin in the UK to ensure a continued supply for patients in the event of a no deal,” the company had told a social correspondent.
“[W]e have 18 weeks stock supply, 3.8 million packs,” they later elaborated.
“On average our insulin has 24-30 months shelf life. As part of our robust plans, we are rotating stock, so the stock build is constantly replenished.”
“Just as with food, shortages will only occur if our Government stop stuff coming in, why [would] we do that?” Longworth observed.
“In any event there is nothing that the EU produces that we can’t get elsewhere,” he added — echoing the thoughts of other Brexit supporters who have noticed that countries such as Australia and New Zealand, which are neither in the EU, in a customs union with the EU, or in possession of a formal trade deal with the EU, all seem to have an adequate of food and medicine.
EU loyalists had made much of hints in the so-called “Yellowhammer” papers outlining a reasonable worst-case scenario for a no-deal Brexit that there could be shortages of food and medicines if the flow of goods between Calais, France, and Dover, England is disrupted — but former Cabinet minister and Tory Party leader Iain Duncan Smith later revealed that the civil servants who prepared Yellowhammer had not bothered to consult with the Calais authorities before writing it.
In fact, the Calais authorities have repeatedly explained that there will be no disruption, with the President of the Port of Calais insisting, “We have been preparing for No Deal for one year. Additional customs declarations will in no way slow down traffic”.