Ever since the Brexit vote in 2016, the Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) has highlighted the danger of possible divergences between standards and rules in different parts of the UK - and the need to reach agreement and put in place mechanisms that respect devolution early on to avoid this happening.
With the 31st December fast approaching, the UK Government has sought to address the problem in its Internal Market Bill, angering devolved administrations as the legislation would allow Westminster to dictate common rules and standards rather than requiring these to be reached by mutual agreement.
All this comes against a background of uncertainty over future trade deals, stricter regulations, the loss of farm payments and now, the Covid-19 recovery/return to lockdown process.
In August, the FUW responded to the consultation on the UK Internal Market White Paper, highlighting that while divergence between regulations in different parts of the UK could cause market distortion, this could also be caused by differences between agricultural support.
We also highlighted that market distortion and unfair competition will take place where divergence occurs between our own rules and farm support and what happens in the EU under the next Common Agricultural Policy, since there will inevitably be some degree of trade to keep food chains operational, even in harder Brexit scenarios.
The FUW’s Filling the Void document, published in 2018, makes clear that the solution is to introduce Frameworks that allow flexibility within thresholds - whether these are financial or regulatory - and states that “reaching agreement on such thresholds will not be easy, meaning there is a temptation to ignore the issue”.
Despite there having been some government working groups looking at frameworks, this is largely what has happened, with the matter being left to the last minute before the introduction by the UK Government of a heavy handed approach which implies dictation of rules and regulations by London in spite of devolution.
In the same Bill, the UK Government attempts a U-turn which would break international law by overriding the section of the EU Withdrawal Agreement relating to the Northern Ireland Protocol, despite the implications of this having been well understood at the time and discussed endlessly since before the referendum - a move which has angered MPs from across the political spectrum as well as senior politicians from across the globe.
While the Bill passed its first reading comfortably, it’s thought that many MPs are keeping their powder dry in the hope that the UK Government will introduce changes to the Bill as it passes through Parliament such that it does not breach the EU Withdrawal Agreement signed just nine months ago.
Whether other changes will also reflect the devolved administrations’ concerns over a ‘powergrab’ remains to be seen.