Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they plan to make to the EU, if any, to remove its ban on the import of live molluscs from the UK.

It is wholly unacceptable that the European Commission has changed its position regarding the export of live bivalve molluscs from Class B waters. There is no scientific or technical justification for this, and it is already impacting businesses on both sides of the channel. We are publishing a series of correspondence between Defra and the European Commission, which clearly reinforces our position.

The Secretary of State has written to Commissioner Kyriakides. We continue to seek urgent resolution with the European Commission, and we have offered to provide reasonable additional reassurances to demonstrate shellfish health, on the understanding that the Commission must recognise the existing high standards and history of UK-EU trade.