Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

EU Veterinary Agreement

Thursday 20 January 2022 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The UK-Australia and UK-New Zealand agreements do not prevent the UK from reaching a veterinary agreement with the EU.
  • The UK aims to remove unnecessary sanitary and phytosanitary barriers to trade in agrifood with the EU.
  • Intense discussions continue between the UK Government and the EU to deliver significant changes to the protocol, including a green channel for goods.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Stephen Farry
Brexit Business & Trade
Context

The UK has recently signed free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand, raising questions about the potential impact on future agreements with the EU.

Question

What assessment have you made of the implications of the Australia and New Zealand free trade agreements for concluding a veterinary agreement with the EU?

Answer from Anne-Marie Trevelyan

Nothing in the UK-Australia or UK-New Zealand agreements prevents the UK from reaching a veterinary agreement with the EU. Our agreements allow the UK to co-operate with both Australia and New Zealand and with the EU to avoid unnecessary sanitary and phytosanitary barriers to trade in agrifood, without constraining the UK's right to regulate in those areas.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specifics of how FTAs impact the nature or scope of a future veterinary agreement with the EU were not addressed.

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Q2 Stephen Farry
Northern Ireland Brexit Business & Trade
Context

The UK's largest export market remains the EU, prompting concerns about ongoing trade frictions and the impact of free trade agreements on veterinary agreements.

Question

Given that the European Union will remain the UK's largest export market for the foreseeable future, should not the priority be to remove all remaining non-tariff barriers, especially to help our UK agrifood exporters? Also, does the Minister recognise that other free trade agreements risk restricting the nature of any EU veterinary agreement to one based on equivalence rather than alignment?

Answer from Anne-Marie Trevelyan

We are clear that we want goods to be able to travel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland without unnecessary barriers, and the Government continue to be in intense discussions with the EU with the aim of delivering significant changes to the protocol. This includes a green channel for goods in and out of Northern Ireland and no further checks or documentation for goods moving between GB and Northern Ireland.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific risk that FTAs might restrict the nature of an EU veterinary agreement was not addressed.

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