Post-Brexit Pressure on UK Food Exports has led to severe criticism of Labour. British food and drink exports to the EU have experienced a more than a third decline since Brexit. The UK’s small and medium-sized exporters are finding it particularly challenging to meet the EU’s “more stringent” import requirements. Post-Brexit licenses for exporting food to the EU cost UK firms up to £65 million last year. The Government promises to scrap the existing scheme by reaching a new deal with Brussels within the next 18 months.
There is evidence of a total £3.1bn (11%) drop in agricultural exports. A reduction in trade between the UK and EU contributed significantly to the decline, with the yearly fall in exports to the EU since Brexit. Farmers also feel negatively towards Brexit and highlight the new regulatory costs as among their top issues.
Post-Brexit Pressure on UK Food Export: Tumbling Food and Drink Export
British food and drink exports to the EU have experienced a more than a third decline since Brexit. This has led to a post-Brexit pressure on UK food export. Overall, food export volumes to the EU market fell to 6.37bn kg in 2024. The Food and Drink Federation found a 34% decline compared with 2019 levels. On the other hand, some UK products, such as chocolate, remain popular among customers in the EU domain. However, the post-Brexit condition in the UK has made producers in the country suffer from bureaucratic limitations.
Since the UK departed from the EU in January 2020, some global events, such as COVID-19 and the Ukraine war, have led to a decline in exports. However, the said events are not the main reasons for the harsh decline in the exports. The FDF’s latest trade snapshot shows that other European countries have had different experiences. Countries, such as the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy, have increased their export volumes since 2020. The trade body has considered post-Brexit trading arrangements responsible for the decline in UK exports.
Higher Regulatory Costs
There is evidence of a total £3.1bn (11%) drop in agricultural exports between 2022 and 2023. Imports declined £5.9bn (8.8%) over the same period. A reduction in trade between the UK and EU contributed significantly to the decline, with the yearly fall in exports to the EU since Brexit estimated at £2.82bn.
Farmers who reported negative feelings about Brexit emphasized “new regulatory costs” as among their top issues. This feeling is common in several sectors, including cereals growers, vegetable growers, and dairy, beef and sheep producers.
Post-Brexit Pressure on UK Food Export: Small and Medium-sized Exporters
Food and drink imports entering the UK are still subject to fewer checks than UK businesses exporting equivalent products, the FDF said. Meeting the EU’s more stringent import requirements is challenging for the UK’s small and medium-sized exporters. The FDF is calling on the Government to work with the food and drink industry to take a strategic approach to trade relations with the EU. They want the Government to address unnecessary barriers to trade with Europe. On the other hand, the extra overhead of doing all that paperwork has made the European market very unattractive. The paperwork and delays are especially problematic for fresh dairy products with short shelf lives, which can spoil during extended border checks. So, a lot of those types of companies had just stopped selling their products to Europe.
Balwinder Dhoot, the director of industry growth and sustainability at the FDF, said the latest figures show the stark reality for the UK’s 12,500 food and drink businesses. The businesses are struggling to deal with the complexity and bureaucracy that comes with trading with Europe. Therefore, the Government must prioritize working with the EU to remove as many of these barriers as possible.”
Expensive Export Licenses: The Government’s Deal with Brussels
Post-Brexit Pressure on UK Food exports includes the licenses issued for food export. Post-Brexit licenses for exporting food to the EU cost UK firms up to £65 million last year. The Government promises to scrap the existing scheme by reaching a new deal with Brussels within the next 18 months. UK companies spent up to £65m last year on licenses to export food and agricultural products to the EU. The Government is promising to eliminate the permits in the new deal by 2027. The British supermarkets and food producers, including Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s, urged the EU to complete the proposed goods and agricultural deal. They said the existing arrangement had led to unnecessary red tape.
Government figures released on Tuesday showed it issued 328,727 such licenses last year, at a cost of between £113 and £200 each. That would put the total cost to the business at somewhere between £37m and £65m. Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister in charge of European negotiations, pledges to eliminate such costs as he promises a new agreement with the EU in the next 18 months. This licensing requirement stems from the UK’s departure from the EU and has drawn heavy criticism from businesses, tiny and medium-sized enterprises.
Starmer’s New Agreement: Brexit Betrayal
In response to post-Brexit pressure on UK food export, Keir Starmer introduced a new agreement with the EU in May. The ministers agreed to pursue a series of specific deals, including one on food and agricultural products. The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, attacked the prime minister. Badenoch argued that the UK was being dragged back into the EU. Farage, the Reform leader, called it a “Brexit betrayal“. Thomas-Symonds made the case for closer economic ties with the EU, arguing that eliminating red tape on food and agri-food trade is vital for British competitiveness.
Labour ministers tried to avoid any perception that they were reintroducing a customs union or free movement by the back door. But Thomas-Symonds’s speech indicates they are feeling more confident about making a pro-EU case for removing trade barriers. He will say the Government is “putting in the hard yards, not resting on empty slogans” and that its policy is based on “sovereignty, in the national interest”. Labour says its new agricultural deal will mean fewer checks on meat, fish, fruit, and vegetables imported from the EU, and an end to the current export-licensing scheme.
