Trade Bill

Lord Tyler Excerpts

Committee: 2nd sitting (Hansard - continued): House of Lords
Wednesday 23rd January 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grantchester]

Amendment 30 is a probing amendment. It may not be of great intent but it is of wide importance to rural areas and the food chain in general. Following on from my earlier amendment which sought to understand the rollover nature of EU trade agreements into UK law, this involves the protection of geographical names designating agricultural products that have been in existence for more than 100 years. This is where the Minister’s definition of “significant differences” will be most helpful.

At present, as an EU member state, the UK falls under three specific geographical product designations. The first is the protected designation of origin—PDO—such as that for Stilton cheese, of which I know the Minister is well aware, which is designated to cheese-making dairies in three east Midlands counties. Secondly, there is the protected geographical indication framework, such as for West Country beef and lamb. Thirdly and lastly, there is the traditional specialities guaranteed framework, such as for traditionally farmed Gloucestershire Old Spot pork. These co-ordinated efforts have given some of the UK’s most well-respected and internationally renowned produce the legal protection it deserves. From each corner of the UK, British produce of world-class quality with links to a certain area or using certain traditional methods has had its reputation enshrined, preventing outside manufacturers reproducing or passing off the product and selling it as a regional one. There is great concern that these protections will be lost post Brexit.

I ask the Minister: what is the status of the recent EU-Canada trade agreement that has been mentioned throughout our proceedings? The noble Lord, Lord Purvis, brought up this issue under Amendment 18, and the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, did so under other amendments. Under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement—CETA—no UK geographical indicator was given protection and only two European indications were included. What was the role of the UK Government in negotiating this EU agreement? Will it be included in the rollover of EU agreements, or will it be challenged or disagreed to by Canada as a counterparty in any rollover? The ink is barely dry on this new agreement. What the Minister has said so far needs to be clarified further in this respect.

With the UK leaving the EU, the position of the food chain, including retailers, in rollovers, and the relative importance given to the issue by the UK Government, these matters will impact on the ability of UK products to be designated foodstuffs under the GI schemes. I understand that the Government wish to set up a UK register of designations after exit. Will these be exclusively British? Will it include the register under the EU scheme, including those products registered by non-EU producers who also use the scheme as a marketing tool, aiding their promotion within the EU? How comprehensive will this register be? It is important to recognise the high percentage of UK trade that goes to the EU. Will the UK Government seek to enable products designated on the UK register to be considered for inclusion on an EU register? Will the Minister confirm that reciprocal arrangements will be maintained without any sunsetting? She will recognise the importance of Welsh lamb exports to the economy of north Wales and the whole of Wales.

If I may, I have some further issues about which I would be happy for the Minister to write to me. First, there will be various transitional costs, such as branding and labelling. As changing labels is a resource-heavy activity, can she give reassurances that changes will be considered together in future regulations? Secondly, can she say what will be the resolution scheme or body that hears disputes? Will the future TRA adjudicate immediately on these PDO issues or will there be a role for the First-tier Tribunal, which presently presides over branding issues? These and other issues are not important for the proceedings tonight, but I merely flag up how essential it is to businesses, especially SMEs, to be aware and informed of the changes happening, even on transition.

The Minister will be aware of the wide benefits that these designations bring to the food chain—the reduction of food waste, the provenance and security for consumers, and the quality of the product—and export markets across the world, as well as the obvious financial and employment benefits. I would welcome confirmation that this amendment is among the objectives of the Bill and future trade arrangements, taking at face value the task of the Bill merely to transfer existing EU agreements into UK law. I beg to move.

[Lord Tyler (LD)]

My Lords, I am a signatory to this new clause and I am delighted to endorse everything that the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, has already said. By way of background, I was responsible for my party’s policy when some of these issues were addressed in the other place when I was responsible for agriculture, food and drink. I also represented a Cornish constituency and I shall come back to that in a moment.

It is very dear to my heart, as I know it is to the Government’s Chief Whip, that we should recognise the particular contribution of the agriculture industry in this country and that we should recognise that it is going to go through some very difficult times in the near future if what is projected comes to pass. In those circumstances, it is extremely important to address the issues to which the noble Lord has already referred.

Protected geographical status was introduced throughout the EU in 1993, when I had that responsibility in the Commons. I was especially delighted when the schemes were updated under Regulation 1151/2012 during the coalition Government. This has been a great success by Ministers of all three major parties—we should recognise that. It is instructive to see how influential UK Ministers have been on an issue such as this when they have played a full part in the EU. It has also been a very interesting example of how the EU has provided essential trading encouragement and protection for uniquely significant food and drinks products from all parts of the United Kingdom.

This is not nostalgic parochialism, as I think the noble Lord has emphasised. It has real economic marketing benefits, as well as protecting our producers from cut-price and inferior competitors. The UK could never have achieved anything like this benefit without the support of our European partners.

There are 65 products with protected status under this scheme in the UK. They are designated to protect the reputation of regional products, to promote traditional and agricultural activity and to eliminate non-genuine products of inferior or different character that may mislead consumers—I will come back to that point. Obviously, I will not go through all 65 products at this time of night, but I will take one or two examples: the traditionally farmed Gloucester Old Spot pork, which I know extremely well because I have neighbours who produce just that, introduced by the coalition in 2010, West Country lamb and beef, Dorset Blue cheese, Single Gloucestershire cheese and Export Jersey Blue. There were very significant improvements to the marketing opportunities for those products, but also, much more generally, for West Country farmhouse cheddar, Cornish sardines—again, dear to my heart—and Fal oysters in 2013.

However, we have to be very careful about the use of these descriptions. As the noble Lord said, one of the particular characters is protected geographical indication. It happens that in my constituency we had one of the best vineyards in the whole of the United Kingdom, the Camel Valley vineyard. That is not in England, it is in Cornwall—and as all Members will know, Cornwall is not part of England, it is not an English county. I have a particular attraction to the wines from that vineyard, not just because it was local to my constituency but because one of the partners of that extremely enterprising vineyard was Annie Lindo, who stood for the Labour Party against me in a general election. She did not win, but the Guardian said that the wake would be one of the best in the country—and it certainly was. The vineyard now produces an excellent rosé as well as sparkling wine.

Cornish clotted cream was another big issue—and I will come to another very important dish in a moment. I remind the House that the difference between Cornish and Devon clotted cream is that Cornish clotted cream is so good that you must have it on top of the jam, while in Devon you can put the jam on top—otherwise, you do not get enough.

Cornish pasties were another big issue. My noble friend the then honourable Member for Truro will recall that it was on St Piran’s Day, I think, that one of our coalition colleague Ministers announced that the Cornish pasty was to be protected. That is a classic example, because of course the recipe for a Cornish pasty is quite precise. It is not permitted to add carrots or peas, let alone minced beef or lamb; it must be skirt of beef. I have had pasties in different parts of the world. Indeed, a part of Lithuania produces its own pasty, originating in the Middle East—but it is not a Cornish pasty. This is a serious issue. I ask noble Lords to recognise that this can be of huge importance to not just small enterprises but substantial ones, too.

[Lord Taylor of Goss Moor]

I think that Stilton is wonderful, but the Cornish pasty is much more important. The issue is that these protected designations are often extraordinarily important to some of the poorest rural economies in the country, as they are in other parts of Europe. At a time of enormous uncertainty for such economies over how Brexit will progress, whatever one may think about it, I think my noble friend would agree that it is extraordinarily important that we ensure that the protections for these specific local and regional products, which underpin those regional and very poor economies, are maintained. That is at the heart of this proposal.

[Lord Tyler]

My noble friend is absolutely right. The important point is simply this: here is a truly successful scheme where UK Ministers have taken the initiative and grabbed the opportunities in the EU. We cannot allow it to disappear. The threat to a large number of enterprises would be disastrous. It would set such a bad example to the agricultural and food industry if we allowed the scheme to be diluted or dissolved in any way.

As we know, the Bill and the proposed new clause are caught up in the rather absurd contingency planning for the crash-out, no-deal scenario that the Government now insist Parliament must play with, despite the dire warnings about how awful such a result would be. If we are not careful, not carrying forward this very good scheme would be disastrous. Indeed, it would be tragic if this excellent scheme, in which successive Governments have invested so much energy, initiative and political capital and on which so many UK producers rely, were lost in the wash. The threat is there.

Of course, the ideal solution would be for it to continue exactly as it is now, with full UK membership of the EU—but I suppose we have to admit the possibility that the ideal will have to give way to the best available replication: hence the proposed new clause. In the words of the 20th century’s most authoritative actuary, Frank Redington, we are faced at the moment with an “expanding funnel of doubt”. We cannot afford for there to be any doubt about the success of this scheme and the necessity of its continuation. The best we can do is to insist, through the amendment, that we do not throw out this precious baby with the bathwater.

[Baroness Kramer]

My Lords, my son lives in Kent. I enjoy giving sparkling English wine from an excellent local vineyard as a present to various people, so I am slightly put out to understand that some local campaigners for Brexit have been urging vineyard owners to look forward to the day in late March when they will be able to call their product “champagne”—apparently with the Government’s backing, they have been assured. It is important that we understand the reciprocal nature of an arrangement like this. Therefore, to feed the expectation that we will keep our designation but remove it from other people is highly dangerous, and I suspect that the Minister sitting on the opposite Bench will have heard some very similar language.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Fairhead]

I was just coming on to that point: the future protection of UK GIs in the EU and then the reciprocal. We have heard loud and clear the desire of UK GI producers, and I can assure noble Lords that we are seeking to make this happen. At the time of this amendment being tabled, I believe there was no public statement from the EU on the future of existing GIs after exit. Since then, the European Commission has publicly stated, in November 2018, that:

“EU-approved geographical indications bearing names of UK origin … remain unaffected within the EU and therefore continue to be protected in the EU”.


This is consistent with what has always been the UK’s understanding. We expected that existing UK GIs would enjoy continued protection even after exit, because the current legislation means that the protection is indefinite unless specific grounds for cancellation are met. These grounds do not include removal from the EU. UK GIs will therefore continue to have the same level of protection as other third-country GIs protected in the EU. They are protected by virtue of being on the register, having earned that right by successfully passing the EU scrutiny processes. That protection will remain unless the relevant entries can justifiably be removed.

[Lord Tyler]

The Minister has been very kind in giving us so much detail. Do I understand that the EU has guaranteed that the reciprocal arrangement will continue if by any chance there is no agreement? What happens if one of the other countries challenges that designation—that protected status—and we are no longer a member?

[Baroness Fairhead]

As I stated, the protection is indefinite unless there is a justifiable challenge, which would take an enormous amount of time—and that does not include leaving the EU.

The EU needs to comply with the TRIPS agreement in relation to how it handles GIs, and the EU member states are also bound by the European Convention on Human Rights. In terms of future protection of the GIs in the rest of the world, we are currently working with global trading partners to transition those EU FT agreements, which also include obligations on the protection of GIs.

Regarding the protection of EU GIs in the UK—I think the noble Lord was talking about reciprocal arrangements—should we reach a withdrawal agreement with the EU, existing EU GIs will be provided with the same level of protection as now until the future economic relationship agreement between the UK and the EU comes into force or becomes applicable and supersedes. The potential long-term protection of EU GIs in the UK would therefore be determined as part of the negotiations under the future economic partnership. It is key for the Government to retain different options to give the flexibility needed successfully to conclude these negotiations.