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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost to the UK of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement with the EU.

The Government has been clear on the potential benefits of a new SPS Agreement – which could add up to £5.1 billion per year to our economy in the long run and increase the volume of UK exports of major agricultural commodities to the EU by 16%. Notes on the methodology of these calculations can be found on gov.uk: Methodology Note: Assessing the long-run growth impact of a UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement - GOV.UK [see attached].

However, the Government recognises that beneath these figures the impacts on different sectors are more nuanced. As technical negotiations progress, the Government expects to follow normal processes for any necessary legislative changes and assess impacts accordingly.