A European Union/UK agreement on food exports designed to resolve problems in existing trade between Britain and Northern Ireland could come at too high a price, a former British minister for trade has warned.
Former Conservative minister Greg Hands told The Irish Times said he was “opposed” to an agreement where London would agree to align with EU regulations on sanitary and phytosanitary rules.
“I don’t think that is the right strategy for the UK. It’s not really in the UK’s interests. A lot of the Brussels food and drink regulations are quite stifling on innovation,” he said.
Negotiations on an SPS agreement are underway, with supporters arguing that it would remove most of the difficulties affecting GB/NI trade, which have irritated many Unionists.
READ MORE
However, Mr Hands said: “Why would the UK voluntarily and dynamically align with rules over which we have no say? It would kill off a lot of nascent things in the UK, like some of work done on GM.”
Hands, who twice served as Minister for Trade between 2016 and 2018 and later from 2020 to 2024, was in Dublin to speak at a conference on international trade held by law firm Byrne Wallace Shields.
He had doubts that an SPS agreement would remove all of the GB/NI hurdles that are being claimed for it: “It’s an arguable thing. Would it increase the demand in NI for Tesco sausages? I’m not sure it would.
“An agreement would make it easier and reduce paperwork and checks, but I doubt if it would get a whole new volume of trade between GB and NI. It would ease bureaucracy on existing trade, that’s my guess.”
The SPS negotiations could take up to two years, though European Commissioner Maros Sefcovic told the British-Irish Chamber of Commerce he thought they could finish in one.
Saying he did not understand why such negotiations should take even that long, Mr Hands said the European Commission was “treating this as a massive concession on their part”.
In reality, London is ceding ground: “The UK, the second largest economy in Europe, is aligning to your food rules. That is a bonus for the Commission, but it is treating this as a concession,” he added.
Following Brexit, South African citrus exporters have been able to ship oranges and lemons to the UK, including Northern Ireland, without a plant health certificate, or the need for an inspection.
Since 2022, however, EU rules demand that South African exporters cool fruits to limit the spread of pests and disease, such as false codling moth and citrus black spot, and supply a phytosanitary certificate.
Now, the Commission is arguing that it may “withhold” the SPS agreement unless it is satisfied, said Mr Hands, who said the Irish Government could play a useful role “to urge pragmatism”.
He was not “downplaying” the risk posed by citrus fungal disease, but doubted if imports to Britain and Northern Ireland “where neither are citrus producers” could “imperil” the Iberian citrus industry.
The Irish Government has frequently “smoothed things over” when difficulties have emerged between London and Brussels, said Mr Hands, who now works with a Czech-based industrial group.
