UK-EU Food Deal Draft Would Scrap Brexit Checks
The Facts
- The U.K. and EU have agreed on a 200-page draft sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement that would remove post-Brexit checks on food and agricultural exports, according to an exclusive BBC report on Tuesday.
- The deal, circulated among EU members ahead of a meeting of ambassadors on Wednesday, would scrap £200 ($268.23) export health certificates and £25 phytosanitary certificates, as well as inspector, sampling and organic certificates, along with some port charges and other checks.
- As a result, the BBC reports that British exports of fresh sausages, burgers, shellfish from domestic waters and seed potatoes to the EU could resume. Meanwhile, the U.K. government claims an SPS agreement would contribute £5.1 billion a year to the U.K. economy.
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The Spin
Pro-Europe narrative
The mountain of certificates, inspections, fees and delays Brexit has caused has been catastrophic for U.K. food producers. Britain is right to align with standards it already broadly follows to get British food and agricultural exports back onto European shelves. If the last few years have taught us anything, it's that divergence for its own sake has been a disaster.
Anti-Europe narrative
This is yet another Brexit betrayal by Labour. Signing up to rules written in Brussels, with no vote and no veto, turns a self-governing country into a silent rule-taker stuck copying hundreds of regulations it had no hand in writing. Growth since leaving the single market shows Britain can thrive, regulate and legislate on its own terms. Assuming otherwise is just defeatism.
