Now comes the hard part of Brexit warns NFU chief
With the country now set to leave the EU on 31 January and end the transition period by 31 December next year, negotiating a successful trade deal and working relationship with the European Union and other international trade partners will be the real test of the UK government.
Stating that this issue was the real bread and butter of Brexit for the farming industry, NFU Scotland president, Andrew Mccornick yesterday said that the negotiations on the UK’S future relations with the EU which would take place over the coming months would be both “challenging and complex”.
And he said that the discussions would mark a global first – in that they constituted the only trade deal in history which sought to erect barriers rather than remove them.
“These barriers can be any combination of things including tariffs, quotas on product, or non-tariff barriers such as sanitary and phytosanitary rules and standards,” said Mccornick.
Dismissing the last three and a half years as “ones to forget politically”, he said that the farming sector now had some certainty over the directions of travel – but warned: “Leaving the EU on 31 January will not be the hard part, as that it is only then that the real grit of the negotiations begins.”
He said that as the EU was the UK’S main and closest market beyond domestic outlets – and the established trade routes and partnerships which existed meant that NFU Scotland had always campaigned for free and frictionless access to the EU market to remain after Brexit.
“The scale of the EU will give it strength in the negotiation, and it could seek to hold the UK back by prioritising different issues to satisfy other member states,” he warned.
However he added that the UK was also at liberty to commence trade negotiations with other countries and new international partners during this spell – and this meant the industry had to decide where its priorities lay, saying “… the terms of our future relationship with the EU will be what dictates subsequent free trade negotiations with the international community: the closer we are to the EU with reciprocal policies, the more restricted our trade position will be with other international partners.
“Conversely, the further we move away from the EU, the more likely we are to lose access to current trade agreements.”
However, he said that he remained steadfast in maintaining the union’s position that in trade deals with any partners there should be no double standards which set the bar at different heights on production methods and standards for home produced food and its imported equivalent.
“It is not just the economics that is at stake here – there is the triple bottom line of sustainability, social economics and what Scottish farmers and crofters can deliver for the environment including climate change,” warned Mccornick.