The election of a new government has raised optimism that a UK-EU veterinary agreement may finally be achieved. Michael Barker assesses the latest state of play
In a chapter entitled ‘Britain reconnected’, the Labour Party’s election manifesto stated: “Labour will work to improve the UK’s trade and investment relationship with the EU, by tearing down unnecessary barriers to trade. We will seek to negotiate a veterinary agreement to prevent unnecessary border checks and help tackle the cost of food.”
Two simple lines, but they are words that the poultry industry is putting great hope into. After nearly three years of inertia over what is considered a frustrating barrier to trade, and ongoing delays and dissatisfaction over the former Conservative government’s Border Target Operating Model (BTOM), the industry is expecting Sir Keir Starmer to make good on his promises and finally level what has been viewed as a highly unbalanced playing field.
According to the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS), the failure of consistency in veterinary controls and inaccuracy of certification processes post-Brexit have left UK businesses “at risk of economic loss, waste, and an increasingly unmanageable burden of bureaucracy”. The trade body has urged Starmer’s government to negotiate a veterinary agreement with the EU as an urgent priority.
Part of AIMS’ concern centres around what it claims is wide variability in how veterinary controls are applied at UK Border Control Posts (BCPs), with individual veterinary decisions creating inconsistent outcomes. It says this has exposed importers to unnecessary risks, complexity and financial harm, with different standards being enforced across BCPs and delays and rejections at the border leading to product spoilage and significant waste.
How much is the absence of an agreement costing the poultry sector?
AIMS says a single wrong decision at a BCP can result in millions of pounds in lost revenue, placing both small and large meat processors in a precarious position. It points out that the additional paperwork and compliance costs for each lorry carrying an export load can be up to £1,500, while UK importers are being charged up to £870 per truck in customs fees, even when only 2% of consignments are inspected. It describes this as “a cost that is no doubt passed on in the first place to industry and ultimately the consumer”.
Richard Griffiths, chief executive of the British Poultry Council, says it is vital that a UK-EU veterinary agreement be reached, pointing out that certification alone has cost exporters around £50 million a year since Brexit.
Describing inconsistency at Border Control Posts as “a problem”, Griffiths adds: “Inspections can cause delays (ie potential variation in the interpretation of the rules by individual vets). This is a concern for just-in-time supply chains like ours, where there is a shelf life on fresh products. Delays result in added cost for exporters, plus risk of food waste. We are still not seeing the same level of checks on imports as we are on exports. As we cite in our ‘2024 and Beyond’ report, we need to take the politics out of technical discussion.”
Gail Soutar, the NFU’s chief EU exit and international trade adviser, tells Poultry Business that the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement has adversely impacted trade across a number of commodities, with a reduction of both the value, and particularly volume, of EU agricultural exports. While value has largely bounced back to pre-2019 levels, volume is still “significantly lower”, which the union attributes to a combination of Brexit, new certification requirements, border checks and the fact that the EU has applied full border patrols since day one when the UK did not.
She also warns that a number of smaller businesses have pulled out of exporting due to a lack of expertise within the business, or an inability to cover the costs of vets or plant health inspectors. “So there has been a significant effect on the number and characteristics of the traders who are trading with the EU,” she adds.
The BPC notes that the UK exported 167,000 tonnes of poultry meat to the EU last year, worth £225 million – down from 380,000 tonnes in 2020. Conversely, imports of poultry meat have continued to rise, with the UK bringing in nearly 675,000 tonnes from the EU, valued at over £2 billion.
How is industry engaging government?
Griffiths describes the BPC’s engagement with the new government, and Defra minister Daniel Zeichner in particular, as very positive, and has reiterated its ask for a simplified, risk-based approach to dealing with technical barriers with a commercial impact. “They have publicly committed to the implementation of a veterinary agreement with the EU to ‘ease the situation in terms of GB-NI trade’, but I think we are all yet to hear the detail of what such an agreement would look like,” Griffiths says. “We know these things don’t happen overnight, though.”
Soutar says the NFU has had engagement with both government officials and ministers, and points out that while it is still early days for the new administration, the signs so far have been positive. “They’re still considering all the options, and getting up to speed with the history of the Brexit negotiations,” she explains. “So I think it [a veterinary agreement] is still some time away, but our government is slowly but surely building that relationship with the EU. We saw the Prime Minister met with Commissioner Von der Leyen and they’re talking about having a regular summit, and [foreign secretary] David Lammy has been meeting with his counterparts in Brussels as well. So while they are using this time to prepare for potential future negotiations, they’re also using the time to build and reset those relationships, which is really positive.”
What else would help ease pressure on business?
The BPC cites e-certification as a good example of how burdens could be eased, and Griffiths warns that the consequences of continuing without agreement is “cost, cost, and more cost”, not to mention the risk of loss of product as a result of delays.
The NFU wants the government to aim for a bespoke SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) agreement which covers both animal and plant products, but Soutar is aware that the EU could prove a tough negotiator that wants dynamic alignment on all of the regulations. “For probably 97% of food safety laws we have the same values and want the same outcomes, but there will be some examples of where we want to do things differently, such as with the Precision Breeding Act,” Soutar says. “So we want the government to go into these negotiations ambitious, but if we are faced with a choice where we have to take 100% of EU rules forced upon us with no ability to influence them, that will be very difficult for [NFU] members to accept.”
A further area the NFU feels would help is for the government to track EU laws so UK traders can understand if European laws have changed and what that would mean for exports. That would also help put into context whether UK rules might need to be adapted in future if the country wants to align more closely with the EU.
AIMS head of external affairs Jason Aldiss calls the current situation “untenable”, stressing that aligned veterinary standards – removing the need for export health certificates – and ensuring that veterinary controls are applied uniformly across the UK would dramatically reduce costs, prevent delays and restore the efficiency that existed before Brexit. Only a comprehensive veterinary agreement with the EU can ensure the competitiveness and sustainability of the UK meat and poultry sectors, he believes.
The industry will hope that the freshness and enthusiasm of a new government is what brings that long-held ask over the line.