‘HELLO everyone’ or the Norwegian translation ‘Hei alle sammen’ as it was reported recently we were ‘going Norwegian’ at Orchard Valley Foods.

Well we are still here, still growing, investing and recruiting in Tenbury and Leominster.

It’s definitely Business as Usual or Bussiness som vanlig.

As I write it’s the day before we vote to support or change our government for up to the next five years.

Well my message to whoever forms the government is please stop delaying and let’s have a clear policy on how we are going to exit the EU.

One party is firmly advocating a second referendum and it’s difficult for me not to offer my vote. However the leadership is not credible so little chance of having an effective outcome.

The UK voted to leave the EU on June 23, 2016 and the official letter was presented to the EU President Donald Tusk on March 30, 2017. This triggers the two-year ‘notice period’ before we cease to become EU members.

From then we have two years to renegotiate the 6,000 free-trade agreements that exist to give the UK free access to the remaining EU states where 50% of our exports are sent.

That would mean rewriting 58 trade agreements per week for next the two years.

Since June 23, we have seen a dramatic fall in the value of the pound, causing significant inflation on imported goods, especially food were prices are rising quickly.

Furthermore, a notable slowdown of UK economic growth and a decline in the willingness of EU workers to come to the UK to provide their essential labour. ‘Lykke til med det’.