Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps is his Department is taking to ensure agricultural policy across the constituent parts of the UK does not distort market prices within the UK.

Following the Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotiations) communique on 16 October 2017, on agreed principles, Defra and the devolved administrations started discussions in November 2017 on where a common approach or framework may be needed. Officials have met several times since then to discuss the internal market in relation to the agriculture sector. We intend to have in place an administrative framework for co-ordinating agricultural support spending and changes to marketing standards to ensure effective co-ordination and dialogue between the administrations on how any changes to policy in one part of the UK may affect other parts.