UK-New Zealand Agreement in Principle – Cabinet Secretary writes to Secretary of State for International Trade

The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, Mairi Gougeon, has written to the Secretary of State for International Trade to highlight concerns about the UK Free Trade Agreement that the UK Government has agreed in principle with New Zealand.

The letter states:

Dear Anne-Marie,

UK-NEW ZEALAND AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE: AGRICULTURE

I am writing to highlight my concern about the UK Free Trade Agreement that your Government has just agreed in principle with New Zealand. As we have only just received it, we are clearly still considering the full detail of the agreement but, based upon the information available and, similar to the Australia FTA that preceded it, this deal looks like it will also be detrimental to Scottish agriculture and that concerns that we and industry have repeatedly expressed have been ignored.

As you may know, I previously wrote to your predecessor, to raise concerns about the Australia FTA, including that it would lead to a sustained increase in imports of Australian agri-food, produced to lesser animal welfare standards and environmental commitments. I also stressed that our wider concern about the Australia deal was that it would set a very damaging precedent for other FTAs yet to be agreed. That fear now seems to be proving to be accurate with this announcement about the UK-NZ FTA.

I am particularly concerned that the proposed deal will represent a significant opening up of the UK agriculture sector to mass imports of New Zealand agri-food. It will grant New Zealand exporters unfettered access to the UK agriculture market for beef and sheep meat within 10 and 15 years respectively - yet there is no detail from the UK Government about what safeguards have been agreed to protect UK industry and how long these safeguards will be in place.

I am further concerned that imports of New Zealand agri-food may undercut the UK's high standards of production, with beef farmgate prices in Scotland 25-30% higher than in New Zealand. I am also frustrated that the AIP does not appear to contain tariff safeguards or thresholds that would require New Zealand exporters to demonstrate first that they have met the UK's high animal welfare standards before qualifying for preferential tariff treatment.

The Scottish Government has consistently said that imports of agri-food via FTAs must be produced to equivalent standards of production as those that domestic industry are required to meet. Also, where there are domestic sensitivities - such as those experienced in the beef and sheep meat sectors - there must also be tariff rate quotas to control imports. I note that members of the new Trade and Agriculture Commission have just been appointed and while we welcome the appointment and representation from the Scottish food and drink sector on the TAC, these Trade Agreements are now so far advanced that I question the extent to which the new TAC will be able to effectively scutinise these.

Previous UK Government economic modelling on a future UK-New Zealand FTA indicated that a deal would have a 0.0% impact on UK GDP. The modelling also suggested that the UK agriculture sector would see a contraction of 0.5% GDP.

Industry is already expressing its concern with the National Farmers Union for Scotland, for example, saying that : "This latest deal offers virtually nothing to Scottish farmers and crofters in return but risks undermining our valuable lamb, dairy and horticultural sectors by granting access to large volumes of imported goods that could be produced in farming systems not currently permitted here¨. At this time, when both of these significant deals are reaching their near end stages, we have yet to see a full impact assessment of either deal to enable us to consider their full impact.

This letter is copied to the Secretary of State for Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster, the Minister of State for Trade Policy, the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales in the Welsh Government, the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in the Northern Ireland Executive and the Scottish Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise.

Yours sincerely,

MAIRI GOUGEON

Published on: 27 October, 2021