New bill paves the way for smoother trade with the EU
Buried in the accompanying notes to the King’s Speech is a section on the new Product Safety and Metrology Bill which, if extended to food products and implemented pragmatically, could be good for the meat industry.
This is perhaps the strongest signal yet that the new Government is open to taking a pragmatic approach to reducing Brexit trade barriers that have cost British companies millions in needless extra costs and bureaucracy, and brought zero benefit to companies and consumers alike.
The headline part is that the bill “will enable us [government] to make the sovereign choice to mirror or diverge from updated EU rules.” It goes on to say that “this bill gives the Government specific powers to make changes to GB legislation to manage divergence and take a UK-wide approach, where it is in our interests to do so.”
The bill will give ministers a mechanism to update the law “to recognise new or updated EU product regulations…where appropriate to prevent additional costs for businesses and provide regulatory stability.” That’s the kind of ‘voluntary alignment’ for which BMPA has been advocating since we left the EU.
Though there is clearly a long way to go, we’d encourage you to read the short section from page 37 of the briefing notes and allow yourself a moment of hopeful optimism.