Labour MEP for Yorkshire & Humber
At a conference for the agriculture sector in York, four areas of concern about Brexit emerged from those working in the industry: EU Labour, threats to income, future trade agreements and food standards. The government should be listening to their concerns.
The chemicals industry is a vital sector of the UK economy, making up 10% of all UK manufacturing. No wonder then that industry representatives and experts are extremely worried about the consequences of Brexit and the government’s chaotic approach to the negotiations.
Leaving the EU will presumably mean leaving the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).Currently, some 55% of total UK farm income comes from CAP support. If we don’t want to see a massive decline in our farming sector and an end to some much loved landscapes, replacing that in some way has to be a top priority.
The House of Lords, leading agri-companies and individual farmers are very concerned about the impact of Brexit upon their their sector. Yet the government has given few assurances to this vital sector of our economy.
One of the most important issues in the Brexit debate is the environment, but it is hardly a surprise that this Tory government does not appear to be concerned about how leaving the EU will threaten the UK’s environmental protections, given that one of Theresa May’s first acts as Prime Minister was to scrap the Department for the Energy and Climate Change.
Looking at the brochure on Brexit produced by the British Beer and Pub Association, I am struck by some of their key demands.
Visiting several businesses in Grimsby last week to talk with senior managers and employees in the ports, fisheries and seafood processing industries, I was struck by one thing. Business does not like uncertainty. And Brexit makes for very uncertain times.
The difficulties that face the fisheries and related industries and communities in the upcoming Brexit negotiations have been at best underestimated, and at worst deliberately misrepresented by those insisting it is simply a matter of ‘taking back our waters’.