The Minister for the Constitution has said he hopes a new SPS Agreement will “ease the situation in terms of GB-NI trade”.
Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations Nick Thomas-Symonds visited Belfast to meet with Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir to discuss the Windsor Framework.
They met at Stormont, and were joined by the chair and deputy chair of the Windsor Framework committee.
Speaking to the press, Minister Thomas-Symonds said: “I know it is really important with the European Union that we have good faith in implementing the Windsor Framework going forward in the medium term in terms of an SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary) Agreement, because I’m sure you’ll all appreciate it’s not going to just appear, it’s going to need to be negotiated.
“I wouldn’t expect hard-edge formal negotiations to begin until the early part of next year, but I do hope that an ambitious SPS Agreement is going to ease the situation in terms of GB-NI trade.”
He stated that he wanted a deal that would “contribute to a free flow of trade across the Irish Sea”, and said a commitment to high regulatory standards would “frame the UK’s approach to negotiations”.
Industry responds
A spokesperson from the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) said: “The British meat and livestock industry needs our politicians to work collaboratively with processors - the businesses that are operating on the front line of international trade.
“For trade with our nearest market, we need paperwork, bureaucracy, veterinary checks, dual labelling requirements and other similar trade barriers to be reduced, not added to.
“We had this is the single market and customs union, but a comprehensive veterinary agreement and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) alignment would also work. Apart from reducing trade friction, such a pragmatic approach could see an end to the increasingly complex problems around the Northern Ireland Protocol and remove the border down the Irish Sea.”
“A UK-EU SPS Agreement is what is best for British trade right now.”
A spokesperson for the BPC
Tony Goodger of the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS) said: “We welcome any intiative from the Government that may help to smooth the exports and imports of meat and poultry through the borders.
“The much talked about Trusted Trader Scheme, coupled with fully digitised documentation, needs to be adopted as this would reduce the number of vehicles that would need physical inspection and enable the border control officers to focus on the ‘more suspect’ vehicles entering the country and hopefully intercepting illegal imports which threaten the UK’s biosecurity as well as having possible implications for economic growth.
“We also heard the Chancellor of the Exchequer announce the cancellation of several infrastructure schemes. Her Government are committed to economic growth and this object can be helped with closer SPS Agreements with the EU as well as ensuring our borders are as bio-secure as they can be.”
A spokesperson for the British Poultry Council (BPC) said: “This is good news: a UK-EU SPS Agreement is what is best for British trade right now. Prioritising an agreement that recognises equivalence of standards makes relations with the EU - our biggest and most crucial trading partner - as efficient and as fair as possible.”
