Foot and Mouth Disease Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateCarla Lockhart
Main Page: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)Department Debates - View all Carla Lockhart's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(3 days, 10 hours ago)
Commons ChamberUrgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
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I am grateful to my hon. Friend for reflecting on the awful experiences of 20 years ago. I assure her that we have excellent people, to whom I have just referred, who are working extremely hard to minimise the risk of any further outbreak. We are doing everything we can to prevent that from happening.
Does the Minister not agree that it is preposterous that Northern Ireland has been excluded from the UK ban on imports from Germany because of the outbreak of foot and mouth? Does he agree that that is the tip of the iceberg in respect of the impact the Windsor framework and the protocol continue to have on our agrifood industry in Northern Ireland? Since he thinks—and rightly so—that it is essential to protect GB farms from potentially devastating impacts, why does he believe that Northern Ireland farms are not as important?
Northern Ireland farms are just as important. In Northern Ireland, the controls will apply to meat and live animals moving from a 3 km protection zone and a 10 km surveillance zone surrounding the affected premises in Germany. Those products cannot be moved to Northern Ireland.