Single market is ultimate Brexit fix

There was a flurry of political activity at the end of last week and over the weekend suggesting that the UK and EU had reached a deal on the protocol put in place to deliver Brexit in Northern Ireland.

While that deal has worked for the majority of farmers either side of the border involved in milk and livestock production, it creates a barrier in the Irish sea for farmers that want to trade livestock to and from Britain, as well as farmers using seed potatoes or other plant material sourced in Britain.

While some potato growers see this as an opportunity to resurrect local seed potato production, it nevertheless is an impediment to production – as it was before the end of UK participation in the EU single market.

It has also effectively shut down the opportunity for livestock producers to sell livestock in Britain. This is illustrated by the case of a pedigree breeder wanting to test the market in Britain.

If an animal is taken across, the sale price has to be accepted – otherwise an impractical six-month quarantine period is faced.

Improving not perfecting

Notwithstanding these problems, the framework of red and green lanes for trade between Britain and Northern Ireland would address the vast majority of the commercial issues with the Brexit protocol.

However, it remains a problem for the most hardline Brexit members of the Conservative party, those who negotiated the protocol in the first place and steered it through parliamentary approval in Westminster.

It is also a sensitive issue for those with a pro-union political opinion in Northern Ireland, who recoil at the idea that they are at a different place from the rest of the UK by operating within the EU single market.

Despite this, if the UK government decide on a deal with the EU, it will solve most but not all the commercial repercussions of Brexit on the island of Ireland. It may not, however, solve the political problem of restoring devolved government in Northern Ireland.

Even if a deal is secured this week or in the coming days, the reality is that there will always be an element of friction in trade and relations between the EU and UK. The EU made a big deal of not wanting bilateral deals with the UK as has been the case with Switzerland.

However in the real world, the UK is a much bigger trade partner than Switzerland, and the EU will have to make similar arrangements if, or should it be when, the UK are ready to begin that discussion.

The ideal solution

Of course the most obvious solution to the Brexit protocol problem in Northern Ireland is the entire UK agreeing to participate in the EU sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) zone.

This is what Sir Kier Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour party hinted at by promising a closer relationship with the EU in his speech to the National Farmers Union (NFU) conference in Birmingham this week.

Incidentally, the NFU president Minette Batters has been particularly frank in addressing the government’s failing to have full border controls in place, saying that food safety is being put at risk by the absence of full controls.

The protocol negotiated when Boris Johnson was Prime Minster was never fit for purpose to manage supply chains dependent on distribution centres based in Britain.

Current negotiations will make improvements to practicalities of the protocol, but it will never be as perfect as EU membership was.

Outside of UK membership of the EU, alignment for the entire UK with the EU as envisioned by former Prime Minister Theresa May in her “backstop” model is what would serve farmers and the agrifood industry on the island of Ireland best.

The reality is that Brexit can never be as pure as its most enthusiastic supporters would like, nor can the EU make the UK comply with EU rules to the extent that they did pre-Brexit.

Politics will lead to a landing zone of consensus at some point, but farmers need maintenance of the status quo for the duration of that journey.