Draft Equine (Records, Identification and Movement) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

Sandy Martin Excerpts

Monday 18th February 2019 General Committees

[Sandy Martin (Ipswich) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Sharma. The draft statutory instrument is simply the latest in a flood that is necessary to make provision for the regulatory framework after Brexit and for us crashing out without a deal. Surely part of the point in having the two-year period for the article 50 withdrawal mechanism was to enable all these issues to be dealt with in a measured and careful manner, rather than thrust upon us in a panic without any time or opportunity to consult stakeholders or assess any possible issues or problems.

Labour Front Benchers do not believe that the Government’s approach to secondary legislation is helpful or worthy of a Government who claim to be bringing sovereignty back to Parliament, and we will continue to say so. In particular, the Opposition put on record our disquiet at the lack of notice for these SI Committees and the unreliability of dates even once they have been given. Any process that takes Members of Parliament and outside stakeholders by surprise cannot possibly be as accessible and transparent as it should be.

As with many other statutory instruments, the draft regulations involve considerable cost, duplication, opportunities for confusion and the possibility of future regulatory divergence from the rest of the EU, which would lead to difficulties in trade. That calls into question the wisdom of preparing for a no-deal Brexit when every Member of Parliament, including the Minister, should be doing everything in their power to prevent that eventuality. Will he come clean on what his Department believes will be the cost to the equine industry of a no-deal Brexit? Whatever it may be, it will certainly be more than the £5 million of additional administrative costs quoted in the SI.

As the explanatory memorandum makes clear, the SI would not in itself prevent significant additional costs for those moving horses from this country to the rest of the EU, if additional blood tests or other procedures are required. It is hard to think of any measures that could be taken in this country to ameliorate the effects of a no-deal Brexit on this or any other sector. That is particularly pertinent to the Republic of Ireland, which has close links to the UK in the equine world. How that close link between the UK and our friends and cousins in the Republic will survive all the additional problems arising from a no-deal Brexit is just another problem to add to the serious damage that no deal will do to the UK and in particular to Northern Ireland. What negotiations has the Department had with equine industry representatives from the Republic, or indeed from Northern Ireland?

At present, EU veterinarians have to sign off on various responsibilities during movement, which means that some of the checks will occur outside the UK. After Brexit, most or all of those responsibilities will fall to UK vets, which may increase both the work required of them and the associated costs, assuming movement still occurs at the current rate. The plus side is that UK veterinary standards are the highest in Europe, but the downside is that a high proportion of the vets are EU nationals, some of whom are already deciding to return to their countries of origin. Just when our need for additional vets will grow, we will find ourselves with significantly fewer than we currently have. That will be a problem whether we leave with a deal or not, and we would like the Minister to make clear the plans for dealing with that likely shortage.

The Opposition deprecate the situation in which we find ourselves. The organisation of the process is lamentable. The ability of this SI or any other to provide a future for equine industries that is not significantly worse under a no-deal Brexit is nil. However, there is nothing of substance in the SI to which we object, and so we will not oppose it.