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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the potential impact on the competitiveness of Northern Ireland farm businesses in the event access to routine veterinary medicines diverges from Great Britain after 31 December 2025.

In accordance with the Windsor Framework, EU legislation in relation to veterinary medicines applies in Northern Ireland in order to maintain Northern Ireland’s dual market access.

After extensive stakeholder engagement, our current estimate is that 10-15% of products are expected to be discontinued. Many of these authorisations are dormant or sold in very low volumes, or multiple alternatives remain available. We therefore do not anticipate significant impacts on access to routine veterinary medicines as a result of these discontinuations. Furthermore, we have seen from several pharmaceutical companies that they have made commitments not to increase prices as a direct result of the changes to supply that they are making or have already made.