Draft Marking of Retail Goods Regulations 2025

Tim Farron Excerpts

Monday 23rd June 2025 General Committees

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

It is a joy to serve under your guidance this evening, Sir Desmond. I thank the Minister very much for his introductory remarks. I support the draft regulations, which will provide the Government with a power to introduce “not for EU” labelling across Great Britain should it be needed to protect the UK internal market and consumer choice in Northern Ireland. They make it clear that the Secretary of State can decide to apply such labelling only where there is evidence that the supply of the product is seriously adversely affected by business operators withdrawing from the Northern Ireland market. I am pleased to observe that small businesses will not be expected to adhere to this measure and that Northern Irish goods will not need to be labelled to be placed on the market in Great Britain. Food for special medical purposes will also be exempted.

Over the past several years, Liberal Democrats have raised concerns about the approach being taken to this issue. More recently, we have raised concerns about the risk that other British businesses will lose out on trade with Northern Ireland as a result of the additional burdens associated with labelling. Despite that, we appreciate that the Government have taken a more workable and phased-out approach than the blanket label system that the previous Government proposed.

The draft regulations will ensure that the requirements are applied in a more limited and intelligent way, rather than in the comprehensive way that would have done unnecessary damage economically not just to farmers and producers in Northern Ireland, but right across the island of Britain. This instrument takes a more sensible approach: it will allow discretion, limit damage to business and minimise red tape, bureaucracy and unnecessary business costs.

Of course, it will not end such costs altogether. That is a reminder that the deal cooked up in early 2020 has a lasting, damaging impact on the UK economy and on our farmers, and that non-tariff trade barriers with Europe create real friction and cause real harm to farmers right across the United Kingdom and to food producers of every kind. It is worth remembering that 17,000 businesses since January 2020 have stopped trading with the European Union, fundamentally because of non-tariff barriers to trade such as this, so I echo the Conservative spokesperson, the hon. Member for Epping Forest: I am very interested to hear what the Minister has to say about the extent to which the EU reset will affect the requirements of this agreement and whether there will be any easing in trade friction.

This is not an issue that can be considered on its own. The impact on food producers on both sides of the Irish sea is significant. That comes alongside the impact on farmers’ confidence and business planning as a result of the inheritance tax changes; the 76% cut in basic payments for farmers this financial year; the £100 million reduction in like-for-like farm funding announced in the spending review last week; the enduring impact on British farmers of the unfair and unbalanced trade deals negotiated by the previous Government; and the trade friction caused by the separation of our farmers and food producers from their biggest external market, which is of course the European Union. We believe that food security must be treated as a public good, which is why I was pleased that the Farming Minister has agreed to meet me and the noble Lord, Lord Curry, in the coming weeks to discuss food security; I will be delighted to take advantage of that offer.

Nevertheless, the draft regulations are a significant improvement on what came before. It is right that discretion is being allowed. It is right that it is being done in a limited way, with small businesses exempted. The damage that will be done, both in Northern Ireland and on the island of Great Britain, will be mitigated by the draft regulations, but of course they will not entirely eradicate the damage that we have done by severing ourselves from our biggest market and our biggest international trading partner.