Agricultural Products, Food and Drink (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Lord Naseby Excerpts

Wednesday 27th January 2021 Grand Committee

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Alderdice) (LD)]

I call the next speaker, the noble Lord, Lord Bhatia. Oh, we have a difficulty with that, so I call the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter.

[Lord Naseby (Con) [V]]

My Lords, with respect, I should speak now. I replaced the noble Lord, Lord Bhatia. That was agreed by the authorities. Could I please have my three minutes? It has been on the official list since lunchtime.

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, we will proceed with the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, while we resolve the issue around other speakers on the list.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Naseby (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I will focus only on the wine aspect. I declare an interest as a member of WineGB and as a small grower myself. However, I am particularly interested in two aspects: French wines—I am an active member of the Champagne group, Bordeaux and Tastevin, which is of course Burgundy—and Chile. The noble Lord, Lord German, quite rightly made the point about Chile. I run an organisation called the Cofradia del Vino Chileno, which is a wine-drinking operation. Chile is a vital friend of this country, and a significant amount of gallonage is bottled here in the UK and exported to France. That trade is vital for Chile and for us. I ask noble Lords to read and listen to the contribution of the noble Lord, Lord German.

On the wider aspect of the other dimensions of wine, we are talking about the bridging arrangements, which are very important. Nevertheless, it is the judgment of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association—which, as we know, states that 99% of all wine consumed in the UK is imported—that it makes little sense to roll over EU-based legislation. It asserts and hopes that the Government agree that the so-called new simplified approach to wine import documentation in the trade and co-operation—[Inaudible.]

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Alderdice) (LD)]

Lord Naseby, we seem to have lost your sound.

[Lord Naseby (Con) [V]]

I was talking about the trade and co-operation agreement and that continuing requirement, which is burdensome. Wine importers have to fill out costly VI-1 forms. The trade association therefore suggests that the requirement should be removed completely, and recommends that the wine import documentation from the EU should be held over until the electronic systems foreseen for trade in wine can be introduced. I hope that the Minister will answer that important point in writing if he cannot answer it today.

I thank your Lordships and apologise for the challenge this afternoon.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Alderdice) (LD)]

I will try the noble Lord, Lord Bhatia, again. He has had some technical problems but we will have one more go. Lord Bhatia. No? I fear we will have to move on. I call the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch.