Food sector fears for Eire trade

In a cross-sector act of cooperation, signatories from 35 representative bodies in the UK food and drink supply chain have signed an open letter calling on the Westminster Government to make striking a quick deal with the Republic of Ireland an absolute priority.

"A key priority for the food and drink industry is to secure tariff-free trade with the EU, which remains our largest external market and our largest source of imported supplies," said the letter. "This is of particular importance in the case of the Republic of Ireland, our only land border with the EU. It buys more from us than the United States, China, Russia, Brazil, Canada and Japan combined.

"Nearly a fifth of UK food and drink exports go to Ireland, with more than a third of Ireland’s reaching UK shores. A quarter of all Northern Irish milk is processed in the South. More than half of Irish beef and cheese goes to the UK. The UK supplies 80% of the flour used in the Republic. We could go on.

"The seamless single market in food and drink across the UK and Ireland allows the free movement of goods and workers. It also means that the majority of food sourced in Ireland from EU and international sources, particularly fresh produce, arrives via ports and supply chains from across the whole of the UK. This complete interdependence is essential to ensuring our food security and to feeding both countries."

The UK’s agri-food and drink sector employs four million people – 13.5% of the UK workforce – and without continuing tariff-free trading arrangements with Eire, that sector would suffer real problems, warned the letter.

"A cliff-edge scenario that results in a sudden transformation to our trading arrangements with Ireland would be hugely damaging for our industry and for the wider economy on both sides of the border. New disruptive customs barriers, port health controls and other costly bureaucratic requirements that impede the movement of goods and workers must be avoided."