EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

Lord Taylor of Holbeach Excerpts

Friday 8th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach (Con) [V]]

My Lords, my interests are listed in the register. I will speak on matters of concern to my family’s business interests. Along with other noble Lords, I am very much relieved to be able to welcome a deal. As a horticultural businessman growing and trading in bulbs and flowers, principally with the Netherlands, I have a feeling of déjà vu about pre-membership days when I started in the business—a return to the bureaucracy of data-inputting and inspections. This is not what Brexit was about. In particular, I do not want our business to lose its trade with an important part of the UK—Northern Ireland—nor, for that matter, with the Republic. However, a combination of the Northern Ireland protocol and phytosanitary regulations may make that inevitable.

We all know of the problems with Scotch certified seed potatoes, Lincolnshire sausages and wooden furniture from Cwmbran, and shoppers on the island of Ireland are rightly worried that suppliers and distributors based in Great Britain may find it impractical to serve their market. The added paradox is that EU suppliers will have the right of unimpeded transit, free of inspection, across Great Britain to deliver to Ireland, north and south.

If the agreement with the EU is truly about trade and co-operation, we have now designed an over-elaborate system. It is not sufficient to input customs papers; we also need to provide phytosanitary documentation. Why cannot the two be combined? Inspections of already-inspected produce add costs to business. To remain competitive, an answer might well be for us to change our business model and transfer some activity to Holland, but this will be of little comfort to the 150 people who work for us in Holbeach.

Pressures such as this will exist throughout the horticultural industry. I accept that some change is inevitable, but we owe it to British horticultural businesses to work with them to ensure that they retain their role as a key employer in rural areas. Brexit should be and can be about putting British business and British jobs first.