Government urged to remove barriers MPs have written to the UK government and the EU urging both sides to remove barriers regarding the export of Scottish seed potatoes to the bloc. Since January 2021, farmers have been unable to export seed potatoes to the EU, including Northern Ireland, due to changes in post-Brexit trade rules.
The UK Government is facing legal action over its failure to give the public a say on post-Brexit trade deals, with farm and environmental groups joining forces to challenge the approach. July 22
Proposed EU deal with Australia will include requirements on 'land-clearing' laws.
UK trade with EU down (almost 1/5th) due to Brexit "Although goods trade between the EU and UK recovered most of its previous level in value terms following the sharp fall in the early months of 2021, this recovery leaves it well below the levels that would have been expected if it had performed on a comparable level with other trade partners. ..The impact of Brexit on EU-UK trade does not appear as large if compared to UK trade with the rest of the world as it does when compared to the faster-growing performance of EU trade. "
Blueberries
The aim of this government is to provide cheap food, whatever standard and from wherever. This leads to decline in UK production, Like blueberries. We now import most of ours from..Peru, leading to grubbing up blueberry orchards. According to trade magazine Eurofruit, only 11% blueberries in supermarkets this year will be British.
British lamb exported to US for first time in 20 years, in a deal estimated to be worth £37m in the first five years of trade." The government are promoting the ability to sell British lamb into the US market after a 20 year ban as a “Brexit benefit”. Small problem: the ban was lifted for the UK and the EU at the same time. So, another “Brexit benefit” we didn’t actually need Brexit to enjoy.
A Dorset farm has suspended more than £150,000 of orders and may be forced to abandon any future activity in Europe because of post-Brexit changes at sea ports. Wessex Lowlines has spent a decade breeding world-leading cattle genetics with customers on the continent who want to buy their pedigree Lowline breeding stock. But the failure to set up a Border Control Post (BCP) to provide crucial veterinary services and processing of livestock entering Europe means all orders for breeding herds in France, Switzerland, Czech Republic and the rest of Europe have been suspended.
UK government’s snub of parliament over trade risks backfiring "There was an outcry in both Houses of Parliament in their last week before the summer recess over the absence of debate for the UK-Australia FTA and the prospect of a low-ambition trade agreement with India. The government’s approach to parliamentary scrutiny could turn into a risk factor for the overall UK trade policy agenda. "
FDF report (march 2022) Key findings include sales to non-EU countries growing over 8% compared to 2020, driven by a strong recovery in exports of whisky (+18.7%) and salmon (+20.6%). Exports to East Asia are recovering faster than in most other regions, with exports to China of food and drink worth over £800m and close to overtaking imports. The boom has been aided by a new UK-Japan trade agreement entering into force in 2021, the report explained. However, sales to the EU fell by 12% compared to 2020, with much of the drop in the first quarter of 2021 when many UK firms paused movements and supplied customers with stockpiled goods.
Government delays introducing checks on EU goods at border for fourth time, saying they will be implemented by end of 2023, when electonic systems are expected to be ready. Importers say they have spent £100 m getting ready and would like some compensation. Rees Mogg said: "he would prefer two-way free trade, but added: “Just because one country has protectionism does not mean you should be protectionist too. The EU has always been a protectionist racket.” President of Farmers Union Wales described it as a 'global disaster'.
Trade
The British government is locked in a “ferocious” internal battle over whether to sign off a trade deal with Australia after a split between the department of agriculture and the department of international trade over the terms of the agreement. "Two people with knowledge of internal discussions said ministers were divided over whether to grant tariff-free access to Australian farmers, which would risk a backlash from the UK farming industry — and potentially spark domestic political fallout. Clinching a deal with Australia — the first big post-Brexit trade deal that is not a ‘rollover’ of existing agreements the UK enjoyed as an EU member — would be a symbolic moment for Brexiters arguing for the benefits of free trade". There is an absolutely ferocious row going on in Whitehall over the Australia deal with real pressure to get it resolved by the end of thias (May 2021) week. Gove and Eustice are on one side, Truss and [Lord David] Frost on the other.
Daily Express 'UK Trade down since Brexit while EU thrives' Dec 21
When DIT Ministers were negotiating rollover deals to maintain our free trade after Brexit, they failed to remove ‘prohibition clauses’ from 23 of those deals, which stop manufacturers who don’t pay duty on their imports from getting lower tariffs on their exports
New Minister for 'Brexit Opportunities'
£12.6 bn lost trade in October The Centre for European Reform (CER) modelled the trading performance of a UK that did not leave the EU, using trade data from countries - like the US, Germany, Greece, New Zealand and Sweden - whose performance was similar to the UK’s before Brexit. It then compared this “doppelgänger” with the actual performance of UK imports and exports since January. The CER used the latest trade data, published this morning by the Office for National Statistics, to calculate that leaving the Single Market and Customs Union reduced trade in goods in October by 15.7% or £12.6 billion. The pandemic delivered a huge shock to UK and global trade but the deputy director of the CER, John Springford, says he’s “pretty confident” that Brexit is to blame for the slump.
Meanwhile EU Agri-food trade went up during 2021 "An overall agri-food trade surplus of €51 billion for the first nine months of the year, an increase of 17% compared to the same period in 2020. The largest increase in exports were those to the United States, the value of which grew by €2.3 billion, or 15%. "
Deals
British farmers will be trampled in rush to make free trade deals "Farmers were once part of the Tories’ national identity, but this government’s Brexit strategy will ruin many".
"On 'Back British Farming Day', Starmer, but not Johnson, met NFU farmers. Luke Pollard, Labour’s shadow Defra secretary, himself from a farming family, says they listened, surprised to hear pleasing Labour ideas on increasing domestic food self-sufficiency, farm support post-Brexit, keeping high food standards and ensuring access to skilled farm workers: food and flower crops rotted this year for lack of them. Many “red wall” seats, he points out, have large rural areas too. Somehow the idea that Labour could ever win over farmers seems far-fetched. But they are only one battalion of many traditional Tory voters who face bankruptcy and ruin if this government really does pursue a vandalising no-deal Brexit."New trade deals unfair on farmers says head of climate change committee (Tory Cabinet Minister). “You cannot ask farmers to do in this country what we are going to ask them to do and import goods from people who are not [meeting the same standards]. The government promised it wouldn’t do that – and it is doing it. It is entirely against its promise.
Liz Truss says in parliament that in any trade deal, they will take our high standards into account - 'to make sure our farmers are undermined'.
IEA's Mark Littlewood joins Liz Truss's trade advisory board, the same Mark Littlewood who Greenpeace revealed toured the US seeking business peoples' donations and telling them Brexit offered an opportunity to "shred" regulations. He joins fellow secretively-funded think-tanker Matt Kilcoyne and Australian climate change denier Tony Abbott. The dream team!
There is an argument that we could push for higher food & farm standards across the world. Tories said they would. Here is considered opinion as to how that could happen.
NB Small print in the article "if there is a functioning WTO dispute system to which we are a party (this is not currently the case due to issues with the WTO) ". ie there is no way to resolve disputes in the WTO at the moment. It is not working.‘Taking back control’ from a group full of friendly neighbours over-whom we had a veto, meant handing that control to a mixed bunch of 164 competitors (in WTO) rivals and enemies who have a veto over us.
What 'Australian' deal means
EU
May British negotiator gives 2 weeks for EU to drop ideological stance
Government could refocus on 'No Deal'. "“We are not going to bargain away our European values to the benefit of the British economy,” EU's Barnier said, but "hinted compromise might be possible on the tortuous issue of fishing rights over the 100 species straddling British and EU waters."Michael Gove says 'Covid crisis could increase chance of EU trade deal'. He rejected suggestions the transition period would need to be extended, insisting the Covid-19 crisis would instead strengthen the case for striking a deal by 31 December.
June
Lloyds List: UK ports grappling with ‘shambolic’ Brexit black hole of information
"WITH six months to go until Britain imposes post-Brexit border checks on European Union goods, UK ports lack sufficient clarity to start building the required infrastructure, have no clear guidance on the required detail of border processes and now have to contend with a government IT system that the head of the government’s own expert customs panel has described as “shambolic and amateurish”.
Mr Johnson and his cabinet ministers discussed using tariffs as "leverage" in an effort to accelerate trade talks at a meeting this week which could result in taxes of 30 per cent on some types of French cheese. The tariffs will start much same as EU tariffs, then put out for consultation.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, told the German parliament that although talks between the UK and EU were intensifying the EU “must be prepared” for the possibility that a deal will not be reached. August, she dumps plans for Brexit at the EU Summit after 'completely wasted summer
Private Eye Aug 2021
