Helen Morgan invites Trade Minister to meet agri business leaders

North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan has invited the Minister for Trade to the county in order to meet with agricultural business leaders impacted by new deals that undercut British exporters.

Helen Morgan asked the Minister in a questions session where she raised the case of local seed potato exporters and stud breeders struggling with new legislation and trade deals.

This comes not long after the MP raised the case of British cheese exporters to Canada, who were concerned at a lack of progress on a disastrous deal coming in this month. Talks have now broken down, with many in the dairy industry concerned at the knock-on impact.

The Minister has agreed to meet with Helen Morgan to discuss the situation in North Shropshire.

Helen Morgan, MP for North Shropshire, asked, “Mr. Speaker, importers of short life items in North Shropshire, such as seed potatoes or chilled equine semen, are very worried about impending import controls.

“Will the Minister meet with me and business leaders in North Shropshire to understand how they can continue their businesses with these problematic controls imminent?”

Greg Hands, Minister for Trade, replied, “Mr. Speaker, of course I'm happy to meet with her, but I would remind her in terms of the answers gave earlier, that the border operating model was introduced after very extensive consultation with businesses, in particular led by Defra with the agri food sector. There's been plenty of opportunity for feedback from businesses on this.

“But of course, I'm happy to meet with her on her specific cases.”