Extracts from Delegated Legislation committee consideration of Brexit regulations - Mar 26
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Extract from Commons motion to consider the Draft Livestock
(Records, Identification and Movement) (Amendment) (EU Exit)
Regulations 2019 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (David Rutley):...Another issue
raised by the hon. Member for Argyll and Bute related to the amount
of consultation. There had been an active dialogue. I meet with
the National Farmers Union every week along with other
food industry trade bodies. They have...Request free trial
Extract from
Commons motion to consider the Draft Livestock (Records,
Identification and Movement) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations
2019
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (David Rutley):...Another issue raised by the hon. Member for Argyll and Bute related to the amount of consultation. There had been an active dialogue. I meet with the National Farmers Union every week along with other food industry trade bodies. They have been engaged in the early stages of this SI, but no issues came up because it is so technical. There has been much more active engagement on new plans for the future related to livestock tracking, and that might have been confusing. That relates to future plans, and is not included in this SI... To read the whole debate, CLICK HERE Extract from Commons motion to consider the Draft Common Organisation of the Markets in Agricultural Products Framework (Miscellaneous Amendments, etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr Robert Goodwill):...I know I will be asked whether a formal consultation has been carried out. I make it clear to the Committee that we have not carried out a formal consultation, as the changes are technical in nature and do not describe any change in policy. There will be no concrete changes. We continue to engage with stakeholders; indeed, I am meeting the chiefs of the National Farmers Union and the Country Land and Business Association later in the week... Dr David Drew (Stroud) (Lab/Co-op):...The Minister outlined the different things covered by market organisation—public intervention, aid for private storage, aid schemes, marketing standards, producer organisations, import and export rules and price measures —all of which are covered by the transfer of powers, as far as I understand. As I said in my rant to the Minister’s colleague in the last SI Committee, the Opposition struggle because all the non-governmental organisations are struggling to keep up to date. I am glad that the Minister is meeting the NFU and CLA, but the various non-governmental organisations to whom I have spoken say that they do not have the capacity to undertake any scrutiny of these SIs because of their complexity and the speed with which they are moving through the House. The NFU has, however, commented on the first SI. It sees producer organisations as being very important, so continuity as the European legislation becomes UK law is important, as is remaining exempt from competition law; if there is no exemption, it will complicate matters. That is particularly true of horticulture. I would welcome hearing from the Minister on that, so that we can be sure that there are genuinely no changes. EU member states have been encouraged to work on strengthening routes to market; I know from talking to farmers that they see that as being where they should go. How will these SIs, which are all about market structure, encourage farmers to move closer to the marketplace without raising food prices? We have to be well aware of that. The issue is the degree to which these SIs touch on competition law, and whether the UK will have to revisit its competition law. The second SI, the draft Common Organisation of the Markets in Agricultural Products and Common Agricultural Policy (Miscellaneous Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, seems to anticipate future SIs. What are those future SIs and changes? How will they impinge on the way the market operates? Given that this has a lot to do with producer organisations, where is the financial analysis? That is the question that I always ask. Can we be assured that the burden will not fall on the producer organisations, which already suffer from market precariousness? In the short term, there will be churning in the policy vacuum—and there is bound to be a vacuum; things may operate seamlessly, but various questions will remain.
We have to look at where we are, and where we want to be, and
make sure that policies are as fair, open and transparent as
possible, because any unfair trading practices will undermine the
point of trying to encourage producer organisations. That is
borne out by what the NFU said to me. It believes that producer
organisations are the way in which farm businesses should be
moving, so that they can negotiate more successfully with
retailers and directly with the customer... “a no deal Brexit must be permanently taken off the table and a workable solution identified by MPs and government as a matter of urgency to deliver some kind of order”
out of the current chaos. Parliament will take control of the
agenda tomorrow and we might see some of that... To read the whole debate, CLICK HERE Extract from Commons motion to consider the Draft Food and Farming (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 Dr David Drew (Stroud) (Lab/Co-op):...Again, the problem is that there has been little engagement with other organisations. By chance, I had a meeting with the RSPB this morning. I said, “We’re not getting much from you about SIs. We rely on you being the eyes and ears because you are dealing with how this will be implemented in practical terms”. The answer was, “We just can’t keep up with them. We have no capacity.” That was the RSPB, which has 2 million members. It has a fair number of staff and they cannot keep up. The NFU cannot keep up. It says something when the Opposition have to struggle through the policy issues and the organisations working on them with lots of specialists cannot keep up with the rate of change... ...The major concern of the NFU is with no deal and its implications for British farming. It worries that some of the changes have been made in such a hurried way that the impact of a no-deal exit will create uncertainty; I know the Minister will lecture us on why we could have a deal, but we have to look at the uncertainties. The reason why they matter is that this legislation could be enforced sooner rather than later. If it is not right, somebody somewhere is going to pay for the consequences. It is very important that we continue to ask these questions; I have not asked many today, because this legislation is more straightforward and we are revising the revisions... To read the whole debate, CLICK HERE |