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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the prospects of the Government seeking a more advantageous arrangement for cane sugar refiners in its negotiations with the EU.

During negotiations of the reform of the Common Agriculture Policy last year, which led to the agreement to end sugar beet production quotas in 2017, the UK pushed for the full liberalisation of the sugar regime in order to allow the sugar cane refiners to compete with the beet producers on an equal footing.

Disappointingly, there was insufficient support from other Member States to secure the necessary changes as part of that exercise. However, we remain committed to working with the European Commission to address this issue through forthcoming EU trade agreements.