As Sir Keir Starmer‘s goal of achieving a softer Brexit inches nearer some of the real world consequences of such a deal are coming into focus.
The UK is considering a plan to match EU rules on food safety, animal and plant health to boost trade and experts say that could mean more choice for British but also force the Government to backtrack on animal welfare.
The Prime Minister has made striking a veterinary, or SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) agreement with the EU a key plank of his Brexit reset plan. The Government wants the deal to ease the flow of food and other goods between the UK and the continent and reduce costs and red tape at the border.
Researchers believe it could boost agriculture and food exports from the UK, while also increasing imports from the continent.
The i Paper reported last June that senior EU officials believe that such a deal would force the UK to become a rule-taker from Brussels, with “dynamic alignment” on food safety, animal and plant health regulations, while also following European Court of Justice (ECJ) rules, in the same way that Switzerland has to under its own SPS agreement with the EU.
Many seasoned Brexit observers now believe the UK will agree to these demands as this would allow it to free up negotiating capital on more controversial areas of the reset such as youth mobility.
Any deal will be subject to negotiation, but this is what a so-called “Swiss-style” SPS deal with dynamic alignment could mean in practice:
Perhaps the biggest beneficiary would be British firms exporting to the EU, which would see billions of pounds added to the total they add to the economy.
William Bain, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said a Swiss-style deal would make it “cheaper to send fruits, vegetables, plant products over [to the EU]” as almost all costly red tape and border checks would be removed.
Alignment would boost British food and agricultural exports to the EU, which have fallen 5 per cent since Brexit, by more than a fifth and add billions of pounds to the British economy, according to research by Aston University’s Centre for Business Prosperity and the University of Bristol highlighted by Bain.
“We want to see a maximalist and deep SPS agreement, one that makes the most difference to reducing costs and red tape and checks from the system,” Bain said.
The move would also remove the so-called Irish Sea Border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which is hated by unionists as they believe checks on food produce separate the two territories and undermine the region’s place in the United Kingdom.
Bain said: “[An SPS deal] would reduce the requirement substantially to have checks in relation to Northern Ireland.
“The process has got a lot better and smoother but there are checks as a result of Northern Ireland having to establish it is in full alignment with EU SPS rules and Great Britain is not.”
British shoppers
Imports from the EU to the UK would also be boosted by 5.6 per cent, according to the university’s research, which trade experts believe is likely to give shoppers more choice in supermarkets and other stores, and could potentially bring down prices due to the lower cost of trade.
Andrew Opie, director of communications at the British Retail Consortium, said: “The UK currently imports around 30 per cent of its food from the EU, and finding ways to reduce trade frictions, such as an SPS agreement, would help reduce costs and improve availability.”
The change would be likely to benefit smaller continental artisanal producers of products like cheese, among others, who have not been able to deal with the added bureaucracy that came with Brexit. So British foodies could suddenly find a much wider variety of high end European food on the shelves.
David Henig, a Brexit trade expert, explained that while big European firms exporting to the UK in bulk have been able to navigate the extra costs and red tape since Britain left the EU, many small operators have simply stopped because it is not worth it.
In the shops since Brexit “you are getting less choice and some products from Europe have gone up in price”, Henig, UK director of the European Centre For International Political Economy, explained.
“Only bulk products are able to get into the UK, that is plenty of things but that means plenty is struggling to get in.”
He added: “It will be easier to import bits that have proved a bit trickier – things like cheese, olives and so on.”
There are concerns that the Government may have to roll back animal welfare policies introduced since Brexit because they go further than the EU rules that the UK must sign up to wholesale in a Swiss-style deal.
The Government recently refused to commit to following through on a pledge to ban the import of foie gras – which is not illegal in the EU – but which Labour has promised to outlaw due to concerns about animal cruelty as ducks and geese are aggressively force-fed in the making of the product.
Now, The i Paper has learned that the UK may also need to overturn its ban on live animal exports, introduced by the Conservative government in May last year and touted as “only possible now the UK has left the European Union”.
Bain explained that the “Swiss precedent involves being in lockstep with EU rules – you can’t move beyond EU rules, neither can you have your standards below where the EU standards are”.
Henig went on: “Live animal exports, I think that’s something that the UK said it was going to get rid of and if you did this SPS deal, I don’t think you could.
“Foie gras – they keep saying they’re going to ban foie gras but never actually have done, but they almost certainly wouldn’t be able to.”
“The French would think it is important to them [to oppose a ban], the UK would be at the mercy of intra-EU discussions except it will not be at the table to influence them.”
Pets on holiday
Holidaymakers could find it easier to take their pets away with them without having to obtain a document signed by a vet, a requirement introduced by Brexit.
British Veterinary Association junior vice president Rob Williams said the Swiss deal with the EU which allows pets to “travel using a pet passport without the need for an animal health certificate”.
“Animal health certificates are often time-consuming and complex to complete, yet required at short notice, which only adds to the pressure the veterinary profession is currently experiencing so removing this requirement would be beneficial to the workforce.
“Holidaymakers would also benefit from reductions in the cost and bureaucracy of procuring an animal health certificate.”
Soon after the UK formally left the EU, Dutch television filmed border officials confiscating ham sandwiches from drivers arriving in the Netherlands by ferry, telling them that since Brexit “you are no longer allowed to bring certain foods to Europe, like meat, fruit, vegetables, fish, that kind of stuff”.
The apparent stunt appeared to be designed to highlight the practical impacts of Brexit for British people.
But the sandwich ban would be reversed by an SPS deal.
“You could safely take your sandwich into Europe,” according to Henig.
Gene editing of crops
Perhaps the most significant area where the UK has diverged from EU rules is by changing the law to allow the gene editing of crops, which is still banned by Brussels.
It is likely that the UK would have to U-turn on this change as part of an SPS deal unless it can get a carve-out in negotiations.
If the ban is to be reintroduced, it would add to the costs for farmers, according to Save British Farming founder Liz Webster, but this would be a “price worth paying” for easier trade.
The National Farmers Union (NFU) has however warned against fully aligning with EU rules as “greater regulatory control and discretion over UK farm practice” will “help drive growth”.
“This means that although alignment may be the starting point of EU negotiations, being EU rule-takers with no ability to influence those rules is unlikely to be a price that the NFU would be willing to pay for such an agreement to reduce or remove trade frictions,” a spokeswoman added.
A Government spokesperson said: “We have been clear that a veterinary or SPS agreement could boost trade and deliver significant benefits on both sides.
“The terms of any agreement would be subject to negotiations, the UK and EU already have similarly high standards and we are determined to work to tackle barriers to trade.”
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