Speaking to Farmers Guardian, Ex Defra Secretary George Eustice has put forward a view on Labour’s ‘EU Reset’ and SPS agreement that somewhat goes against the grain of what many in the industry have been thinking.

Instead of looking at the benefits of going back to frictionless trade (which would boost UK exports and make them more competitive) he looks through the other end of the telescope to focus on the competitive advantage it might bring to EU producers whose goods we import and how that would disadvantage UK producers.

He claims that “While lamb is the number one agri-export to the EU, additional paperwork and export health certificates are largely inconsequential to them. For people growing fruit and veg, the SPS agreement undermines their commercial interests and removing checks increases the risk of disease.”

We’re not sure that the costs associated with all that additional paperwork, not to mention the cost of the manpower to administer it, has benefitted anyone on either side of the channel. What it has done is increased the cost of food for British shoppers. Nor is it as simple as choosing to produce more of what we eat here in the UK instead of buying it from abroad. Our food supply chain relies on us being able to import what we can’t produce enough of AND export what we produce in the UK but doesn’t have a market here. It’s ‘carcase balance’ in action, which is not served by adding an expensive layer of bureaucracy.

You can read Mr Eustace’s full comments in the Farmers Guardian article. We’d be interested in BMPA members’ take on this and whether they think the additional costs and hassle associated with not having an SPS agreement have proved to be ‘largely inconsequential”.

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