Brexit: Are You In Or Out?

Here, we speak to three industry spokespeople for their thoughts on the changes that the in/out vote will bring to our lives both personally and professionally

Michael Mack, FARMA

The issue of Brexit is a complicated one for farm retailers across the UK. FARMA members are not just food retailers; they run farms, process their own meat and vegetables, run production kitchens and attend markets. All these elements of their businesses are affected by both EU and UK law, agricultural support programmes and consumer confidence.

Will we see a decline in legislation affecting our businesses? EU directives are created in the EU to protect EU citizens. Each EU member state then implements their own laws to ensure that they are compliant with the directive. Effectively, this creates legislation within the member state which is compliant with the EU requirement. So, whether we stay in or leave the EU, as businesses we will still have a similar set of regulations to follow. Over time we may see some changes and adaptations to these regulations, but overall we should ask whether is it a realistic expectation that the government will be able to drastically reduce the number of laws they have in place to protect the voting public.

Will government support for farmers change after the vote? If we stay in the EU we know what will happen with CAP for the next four years. After this time, the whole question of CAP will be reopened and the same horse trading will happen between all 28 member states to get the best deal for them. Most commentators would predict that through these negotiations we will see the overall budget spent on CAP continue to decline. The leave campaign are saying that they would spend as much on farming support as is currently the case. With budget cuts across government departments and the projected cuts in tax returns, it will be increasingly hard for ministers, whatever their political allegiance, to justify spending at current levels for farming businesses. 

If we leave the EU, will our customers have more money in their pockets? The Treasury has predicted that if we leave the EU every family in the UK will be £4,300 worse off per year. Assuming this number is inflated and that we will show signs of resilience beyond the economic models, it would be a very optimistic person who would say that leaving the EU will have a positive impact on our customers’ pockets. 

For a lot of people, staying in the EU would be the most logical vote; however, this election will include a lot of votes based on the heart and not the head.

Anthony Davison, BigBarn

For food producers and the farming community, there are both positives and negatives to Brexit. If we were to stay in we will be assured that farming subsidies remain and we will continue to export freely to the EU without any duty. However, coming out of the EU offers some new opportunities.

The money currently used in the UK towards EU farming subsidies could, potentially, be used to specifically benefit UK farmers. Additionally, we could place duty on products from the EU that flood our market and make UK produce unprofitable, such as milk, butter, cheese and some veg. This will give British farmers a chance to compete.

Either way, I do feel that the whole debate will get people thinking more about where their food comes from and should, hopefully increase demand for British grown produce.

Anthony Rowcliffe, Rowcliffe & Son

Personally and business-wise, I think it would be absolute madness for us to vote out. I’m old enough to remember being a cheese importer before we joined the common market as it was then, and the actual activity of importing goods from abroad was very much more complicated and much more laborious than it is today. Even now, we bring in a lot of Swiss cheese which is a huge amount more time consuming than it is to bring in cheeses from within the EU.

What people seem to naively think is that we’re a small, independent nation which can stand on its own two feet, and that nothing is going to change. Some people think things will improve. To be frank, I can’t see how that can become a reality; the price of food will increase even from the Continental suppliers who want to continue to supply the UK. The food industry these days is more or less a global affair, and the idea that you don’t want to be part of a much larger club, which supports its members, is ludicrous.

The media has published articles quoting ridiculous changes the EU plans to make which will make our lives more difficult, but I would struggle to find any particular rule, regulation or law which would have as devastating an affect as they’re suggesting it will. If it’s not broke don’t fix it. We’ve been in the EU for 40 years and its made a lot of things run smoother; immigration is of course a problem, but we need to remember that there’s a lot of work done by people from the European community and without them the work would possibly not get done – indeed, I can’t imagine a world without these people. Not to mention the ability for British workers to get employment abroad; I find it odd that other people think that could continue.

I don’t claim to understand all of the ramifications of being in or out, but overall being part of this community has to be a good thing.