‘We’re out of step’: how post-Brexit UK is drifting from EU standards

The UKCA quality standard is imposing unwelcome costs, from chemicals to construction materials

When the government announced this year it would indefinitely delay plans to force UK companies to adopt a new post-Brexit quality mark, the UKCA, Simon Blackham, of the insulation maker Recticel, was delighted. Yes! An outbreak of common sense," he recalls thinking.

His joy was short-lived, however. It quickly emerged that the government's change of heart did not apply to construction products, such as the insulation panels Recticel manufactures in Stoke-on-Trent.