There has been a mixed response from the farming and meat industry to the EU-UK trade deal announced at today’s EU summit.
While the removal of some of the barriers to EU exports has been widely welcomed, concerns have been expressed about aspects of the deal, including fears that it could lead to a reduction in checks on meat products entering the country from the EU.
As part of a wider deal, a new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) outline deal will reduce red tape affecting trade in animal and plant products between the UK and EU that has been in place since Brexit.
This will include the removal of some routine border checks on animal and plant shipments to and from the EU. The agreement means, for example, the UK can sell raw burgers and sausages back into the EU for the first time since Brexit. The deal will also make trade between the UK and Northern Ireland easier.
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said the ‘historic reset deal’ was ‘awin-win’ and will add £9bn to the UK economy and lower food prices, reduce red tape, open up access to the EU market.
“It’s time to look forward. To move on from the stale old debates and political fights to find common sense, practical solutions which get the best for the British people,” Starmer said. “We’re ready to work with partners if it means we can improve people’s lives here at home.
“So that’s what this deal is all about – facing out into the world once again, in the great tradition of this nation.”
Illegal import check concerns
NPA chief executive Lizzie Wilson welcomed the potential removal of barriers that restricted exports, adding costs and burdens. But she said the deal must not result in an open door for meat imports from the EU at a time when devastating diseases like foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and African swine fever (ASF) are circulating in Europe.
She said: “Today’s news is a welcome step with regard to the future relationship between the UK and the EU and trade in particular. The EU is our largest trading partner for pigmeat, so we support the government’s efforts to reset this relationship, with the ambition of reducing costs and other barriers to trade.
“Today’s announcement around a new SPS agreement with the EU is a welcome next step. But, our key message is this deal must not be seen as a reason by government to take their eye off the threat posed by the illegal import of POAO.
“This is the single biggest threat to the future of the British pig industry and the deal changes nothing as far as the need to keep illegal imported products potentially carrying devastating disease out of the UK. Our greatest fear is that this agreement with the EU will just exacerbate an already dire situation and will now lead to less checks and a potentially weakened biosecurity position.
“But, instead, we continue to call for the government to do much more than it is doing currently to provide the resource necessary for checks to continue at key points of entry like Dover.”
Early positives
NFU President Tom Bradshaw welcomed the ‘government’s ambition to make it easier for the sector to trade with our largest overseas partner’ but stressed that ‘the detail is king’.
“Early positives of the deal include the outline of a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement which will reduce barriers for UK farmers and growers to export to the EU. Over the past five years, UK agri-food exports to the EU have stagnated with double digit reductions in exports volumes across a variety of farming sectors,” he said.
“This deal has the potential to deliver a more mutually beneficial trading environment for UK farmers and growers. While the UK and EU both adhere to similar high food production standards, both sides have agreed there should be limited exceptions to dynamic alignment but it is yet to be confirmed what this will cover.”
Pragmatic agreement
The UK sector has long been calling for the removal of barriers to UK-EU trade, and the British Meat Processors Association duly ‘strongly welcomed’ the work done by Government to deliver the kind of seamless access to Britain’s biggest, wealthiest and most strategically important export market.
“And it has achieved this through careful and detailed consultation with industry to fully understand the technical complexities involved in the just-in-time trade in fresh meat. This government has managed to achieve what the previous government promised us originally but didn’t deliver,” the BMPA said.
“The joint declaration, whilst in the early stages, promises to bring back all the trade that simply ceased after Brexit due to crippling red tape and tens of millions of extra costs.
“Under the existing arrangement we have had to produce a mountain of paperwork to prove we comply, costing business a fortune but with NO ADDED VALUE. This extra cost had to be absorbed somewhere in the supply chain, either through lower margins or higher prices, driving food price inflation and rendering UK businesses less competitive.
“We await the detail of the new EU deal, but the early signs are that it is a pragmatic agreement that will be good for British businesses and consumers alike.”
Dr Jason Aldiss, executive director of the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers, welcomed the agreement.
“We have been lobbying for the last couple of years a common-sense approach to create frictionless at the border for both exports and imports from and to the UK, and to now have 100% paperwork checks and up to 30% physical checks removed entirely for red meat, poultry and eggs is very welcome.
“The cost savings in terms of Export Health Certificates , especially on groupage loads, is significant” Jason continued
“British products that were banned, such as fresh sausages and burgers will now be enjoyed by our EU neighbours and of course within Northern Ireland as the movement of goods between GB and NI will be now far easier due to the removal of SPS and other requirements”.
Reassurance needed
Country Land and Business Association (CLA) President Victoria Vyvyan said: “Is a bad deal better than no deal? It depends who pays the price. We sympathise with the fishing industry, as the government’s concession will have a significant impact on fishing and coastal communities, as well as the marine environment, for many years to come.
“Although the EU is a key market for UK produce, and lower export costs would help make our goods more competitive for European consumers, signing up to allow the European Court of Justice to impose decisions affecting our goods is an unnecessary surrender of control. We need immediate reassurance that the UK will have a voice in the decision-making process in the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement.
“Cutting red tape on food exports and plant and animal health for trade sounds positive if unlikely, but tying us to an agreement that involves European Court of Justice oversight is deeply concerning and could hinder our ability to strike future trade deals with other countries.”