Draft Wine (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2024

Debate between Mark Spencer and Jesse Norman

Wednesday 17th January 2024 General Committees

[Mark Spencer]

It is ice wine, but I am told it is also quite nice.

[Jesse Norman (Hereford and South Herefordshire) (Con)]

I note the decline in standards in explanatory memoranda, in that my right hon. Friend—who has been a member of the Cabinet—is not acknowledged as such in the explanatory memorandum; however, I think that is a matter for his civil servants. Given that we do not have an ice wine industry in this country, why are we passing this legislation?

[Mark Spencer]

That is a very good question. It is quite simply because the ice wine brand, as it were, is not currently protected in the UK. In signing up to CPTPP, an obligation was placed on us to recognise this product and register it in the UK. Ice wine is mostly made in Canada, which is a signatory to that agreement. This is about protecting their ice wine producers’ brand, as it were.