Ulster Unionist Party Leader Robin Swann MLA has asked the DEFRA Secretary Michael Gove to clarify the effect on the local NI beef industry after reports emerged of the UK Government drawing up plans to favour Brazilian beef over that from the Republic of Ireland after Brexit.
Robin Swann said:
“With not much more than a month to go until Brexit it is outrageous that farmers, businesses and society as a whole here still know nothing more about how the UK will look outside of the European Union than they did immediately after the referendum two and a half years ago.
“I have consistently warned that if the necessary preparations were not put in place, local agriculture was going to have the most to lose from a bad Brexit deal. Now, far from a bad deal, it looks like we’ll probably have no deal at all – even though such a conclusion would be by far the worst possible outcome for farmers and consumers.
“As the March 29th deadline draws ever nearer, it appears that some of the people who should be working hardest to secure an effective deal are once again wasting far too much of their time engaging in stunts and rhetoric.
“This week I was particularly alarmed to learn that some in the UK Government, including the DEFRA Secretary Michael Gove, are pushing for new ‘tariff rate quotas’ which in effect would allow certain amounts of produce into the UK without tariffs.
“Such products would likely include Brazilian beef, whilst those coming from the Republic of Ireland would be subject to major charges. There is no doubt that such a trade war would push the ROI agri-food market into a major crisis – and send a strong message to the Irish Government for their stubbornness during the Brexit discussions - but I really do believe that the DEFRA Secretary has once again completely misunderstood the intricacies of agriculture on the island of Ireland.
“For instance, during 2017 8,915 cattle were sent from Northern Ireland to the Republic for direct slaughter. The figures change yearly and are often dependent on the price differential between the two jurisdictions, but there is simply no doubt that any disruption to the flow of local cattle to such a large market would be immediately detrimental for our beef producers and the prices that they receive.
“Of course I suspect many farmers in GB would be equally as alarmed with the prospect of cheaper, lower quality Brazilian beef flooding the UK market. Right now, five weeks from Brexit, everyone – including the UK Government - urgently need to get their priorities right. It would be a travesty if knee jerk decisions taken now were to go on a hurt the local farming industry for months and years to come.”