Draft Wine (Amendment) Regulations 2021

Peter Bottomley Excerpts

Monday 13th December 2021 General Committees

[Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West) (Con)]

It is a delight to follow the hon. Lady, who I think is the only one here who has been elected twice in the last two years. For those who want to follow the Welsh vineyards trail, the history of at least 10 of the 11 Welsh vineyards goes back 150 years. I pay tribute to Welsh whisky, which I have enjoyed.

I thank the Minister and her colleagues for responding to the point, made by Members from across this House, that the VI-1 form is not necessary. I pay tribute to the Wine and Spirits Trade Association, which briefed a number of us, and had one or two gatherings in the days when a gathering could or could not be a party; to the English wine producers; and to the Welsh and the Scottish—or I would, if any Scottish Members were here—for their contribution to encouraging Government to find a way forward that is sensible, and in which there are no losers and many winners.

Will the Minister say—it would be a kindness if she could write afterwards, if she does not know the answer now—when it will be possible to sell fizzy wine or champagne in a pint bottle, which was illegal during our membership of the EU? Many argue that sharing a pint with a friend or a spouse is better than sharing a half-bottle, which is not enough, or a full bottle, which is often a bit too much.

[Victoria Prentis]

It is a great pleasure to respond to the hon. Member for Newport West, and to my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West, who is co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on wine and spirits, which has been extremely helpful to us in formulating this policy. I share his liking for Welsh whisky; there is also Isle of Man whisky, which is really delicious. I have heard before the point that he raises about fizzy wine. I am not sure that that is entirely in scope of the regulations, and I will, if I may, write to him about that, because there are other Departments involved in that conversation.

The hon. Member for Newport West raised various issues, including the transitional period, which I dealt with earlier. The transitional period will apply until the bottle is sold or drunk, so there is no end to that period in terms of retail sales. The SI does not apply in Northern Ireland and will not result in any changes to certification of GB-produced wine sent to Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland will obviously continue to follow the rules for VI-1 certification set out in the protocol. Most movements of GB wine to NI have fallen within the scheme for temporary agri-food movements to Northern Ireland. Movements of GB wine to NI are very small; they may often fall below the 100 litre de minimis requirements for a VI-1 certificate set out in EU law.

I remind Members of the positive changes in the instrument. The regulatory changes that we are introducing enable us to meet our international obligations and implement annex 15 of the TCA. We have listened to the wine trade and Members of this House and removed the requirement for VI-1s for imports from not only the EU, but other nations from across the world that produce excellent wine.

[Sir Peter Bottomley]

A number of people may not know what the VI-1 form is. If they put “VI-1 form” into a search engine, fortunately the first result that comes up is the Government site, which is up to date; but the third result, using the search engine that I use, is the Food Standards Agency, which might be encouraged to update its information, because it is a year old and does not take account of these welcome changes.

[Victoria Prentis]

When we have made these changes—we are possibly jumping the gun a little bit—I am sure that we can pass that on. I ask hon. Members to support the SI, and I hope that the wine trade will continue to flow well this Christmas.

Question put and agreed to.