Horticulture Trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland Debate
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Robin Swann
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Horticulture Trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Robin Swann Excerpts(6 days, 8 hours ago)
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Mr Campbell
I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention, and yes, indeed. We have come a small number of steps, but there is an exceptionally long road to reach the finishing line.
Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
I thank the hon. Member for bringing forward this debate. As he knows, I have raised this in relation to Colemans Garden Centre in my constituency. It has said about one of its suppliers based in Scotland, which got a new contract in Japan, that it is easier for that Scottish supplier to send plants to Japan than to send them 14 miles across the water to Northern Ireland. Richard Fry, the manager of Colemans, has said that when it engaged with that supplier it just came up against a wall of bureaucracy, in having to name everything on a pallet and in the trailer with the trailer’s registration number. The bureaucracy and the paperwork have actually stolen that easier trade.
Mr Campbell
I thank the hon. Member for that. He itemises a problem that is faced on multiple occasions by many of the companies in our constituencies. How that wall, or that restriction, came about was summed up by the then Chief Constable six years ago, who said:
“There are 300 crossing points between our two countries, how on earth are my officers supposed to police that effectively?”
He was of course talking about the security implications, but similarly it applies to the consumer border that exists.