EU Imports and Exports: Food and Agricultural Products

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Thursday 2nd May 2024 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the checks on imports and exports of food and agricultural products to and from the European Union, and in particular with regard to the import controls introduced on 30 April.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

My Lords, I am delighted to have secured this timely debate and look forward to hearing contributions from other noble Lords. I welcome my noble friend the Minister to his place and look forward to his response.

The purpose of the debate is to evaluate the extent to which that elusive level playing field of parity of access to imports and exports on both sides of the English Channel and the North Sea has been achieved. I will look at border controls in the round, and in particular developments this week. I seek to assure parity of treatment across UK ports, whether goods are coming into Dover, Hull, Grimsby, Immingham or Holyhead, and between the UK and EU ports. This week the Government introduced the second phase of controls on EU imports, following the health requirement certificates in January this year. I congratulate all involved on achieving this—the Government, the ports, the importers and the traders. These are important measures of food safety and food security.

Will the Government review the operation and effectiveness of the border control posts and the new parallel border IT process, particularly for entry via Dover, before the next stage is introduced in October this year? Will they commit to treating the short straits as one entity to ensure that the critical supply chain of food imports functions well and for supermarket shelves to remain full—a point made by the Dover Harbour Board in its consultation response? Many of the controls introduced this week would have been pre-empted by a phytosanitary agreement with the EU. I seek to explore whether we are any closer to achieving such an agreement.

The risk levels and frequency of controls appear to be greater for those exporting from the UK to the EU than those entering the UK. It begs the question whether it is inherently unfair and unequal that it is easier for imports to enter the UK than for UK food and agricultural exports to enter the EU.

Is it still the case that there are no border control posts in the EU to permit the export of UK breeding stock? In effect, this means that there is a trading embargo on the export of live animals for breeding purposes to the EU mainland that damages UK livestock production. Are we seeking to help British farmers to access what remains their largest export market, namely the EU? These measures were promised to assist farmers to meet these challenges, as set out in the Agriculture Act.

The Food Standards Agency welcomes the measures introduced this week yet remains concerned about the continued threat of personal imports of animals, plants and foods, as well as potential food fraud. How do the Government intend to address this threat—a concern shared by farmers and the NFU, which notes that the danger of potentially infected meat entering through personal imports remains? What resources will be made available, particularly to address the risk through personal imports?

We are heavily dependent in this process on the availability of environmental health officers and trading standards officers to oversee the safety of our meat and other food products. They play a vital role in protecting against diseased plants and infected animals entering the UK.

The Food Standards Agency notes that when we talk about border controls and the BTOM, we are referring to commodities imported commercially through regular trade routes. The BTOM and associated controls are not targeted at illegal imports of food that are typically brought into the UK posing as personal imports or where goods are passed off as something that they are not—I remember the horsemeat scandal at this point. Illegal imports of food are targeted at ports of entry, with Border Force the main agency responsible, supported by port health authorities, and this will not change with the BTOM. I pay tribute to the FSA’s National Food Crime Unit, which targets organised food crime by taking action to disrupt the impact of criminal networks in this area.

The figures for imports into the UK speak for themselves and demonstrate a huge imbalance in trade. In 2023 the UK exported 167,000 tonnes of poultry meat to the EU with a value of nearly £225 million; the UK imported 673,000 tonnes of poultry meat from the EU with a value of £3 billion. To clarify, it is £225 million in exports versus £3 billion in imports—that is quite an imbalance. The absence of a sanitary and phytosanitary agreement in this regard is regrettable.

The CLA briefed me ahead of the debate on what increased costs the new border controls brought in this week will bring. That is to be expected because although food exports to the EU have stabilised, the costs associated with exporting have increased substantially. As a result of increased paperwork, through the need for health certificates, an increase in vet checks and the use of customs agents, costs have increased by £170 million since 2019. In 2023 export costs for food products increased by £58 million. Increased costs for exporters lead to a reduction in export volumes and, regrettably, a reduction in the number of businesses exporting to the EU.

The aim of the Government since the UK left the EU in 2021 has been to implement the target border operating model, which means that checks on certain products entering the country from the EU have now been introduced. The NFU states that the EU continues to be the UK’s largest market for live animals and agri-food exports, accounting for 67.9%, valued at £10.7 billion, in 2023 alone.

A breakdown in biosecurity is one of the most serious threats that we face as a nation and I am pleased that the Government are addressing this through these controls. However, it should not be easier for EU producers to export to the UK than it is for UK producers to export to the EU.

I will address the issue of perishable products such as plants, flowers, fruit, vegetables and fish. As time is of the essence, can my noble friend give the House an assurance that checks will be timely and effective to control just-in-time delivery, mindful of the nature of these deliveries in terms of transport and packaging?

In conclusion, I will briefly address a number of questions to my noble friend. In welcoming the measures introduced this week, in addition to those that were introduced in January and those expected in October, we need to take a wider view of the progress being made towards achieving a phytosanitary agreement with the EU and on border posts opening in the EU to facilitate UK exports, particularly of breeding stock. I understand that a review was scheduled for April this year, with products such as composites and some fruit and vegetables classified as low risk. Have the Government undertaken such a review? Will they undertake to do so and communicate any changes to industry with a sufficient lead time of, say, six months?

The border checks introduced this week will go some way to equalising the level of checks, which have hitherto seen an asymmetrical application of the trade and co-operation agreement with the EU. They are therefore to be welcomed. Some known unknowns, such as the cost ratios for controls at various ports of inspection, need to be addressed. Will the Government use the opportunity of next year’s review of the trade and co-operation agreement to re-evaluate the level and cost of checks in the flow of trade between the UK and the EU?