What will a ‘Brexit’ mean for us?

Whether Britain stays within the UK or not will affect many things, from child benefits given to migrant workers to protection for the City of London, but what difference will either decision make to the fine food sector?

Ours is a market full of imports, exports, international relationships and workers, so it’s understandable that concerns are rife – from the grass roots of the farming community where the current red tape would be far from missed, to the counters of Speciality Food readers where international foods (perhaps to become more complicated to stock) are often as popular as locally-sourced produce.

Here, we’ve gathered the opinions of three spokespeople for our industry: the president of the National Farmers Union to share the agricultural world’s concerns; the chief executive of fine food distributor Cotswold Fayre to opine on the future of European trading; and the MD of importer and distributor RH Amar to comment on the possible results of a British exit from the EU.

Meurig Raymond, president of NFU

Our EU report in 2015 was aimed at providing members with information about our existing relationship with the EU. That report has proven very popular and what’s clear is that many farmers are seeking more information before coming to a decision on which way to vote. We hope our latest economic study and the debate at this year’s Conference will provide more vital steps in allowing members to more fully appreciate the impact of both possible referendum outcomes.

If Britain is to stay in the EU then David Cameron must be clear. How will the UK’s position within the EU’s single market be made stronger? Will the recent European Council meeting lead onto a commitment to create a globally competitive market with less red tape and compliance costs and better regulation for the benefit of British agriculture?

British farmers must not go into an EU referendum without all the information. If Britain stays in the EU we need to know what steps will be taken to make European agriculture more competitive. And will there be an EU commitment to regulations that are more science-based and proportionate? If we remain a member state, will we be able to remove some of the blocks to progress – such as barriers to biotechnology?

If we leave the EU, what will a British agriculture policy look like and what is the future of support payments? How will British farmers access the European market and will the UK be more open to imports from outside Europe?

These are the questions that the NFU is asking both sides of the argument. We must have clear and accurate answers which the agriculture industry can depend on to make their decision when a referendum is announced.

Rob Amar, MD of RH Amar

We will be watching developments with great interest. Our product range is sourced from 25 countries on six continents, with the majority bought from the Eurozone, and like most businesses, we seek stability and certainty.

We have already seen how market sentiment towards a possible UK exit from the EU has caused the value of Pound Sterling to fall. If these recent falls are not reversed, this will inevitably lead to cost price inflation for imported goods.

Paul Hargreaves, chief executive of Cotswold Fayre

Whilst Cotswold Fayre predominantly buys British products and sells to British retailers, we do have customers and suppliers in the EU, particularly in Ireland. At Christmas we do import a significant volume of product from Europe and that is my short-term concern at present.

We are currently collating our Christmas catalogue, which will be printed in April. If we vote “no” in June, I suspect the £ will slide against the Euro and we will instantly lose our margin on all these products as we do not order until July, yet will have committed prices to customers by then.

Longer term anything that makes trading with Europe easier in my view is a good thing, and we have always employed plenty of Europeans in our warehouse, who tend to be excellent workers for us. These eastern Europeans would be less available.

In the longer term whether we vote “yes” or “no” I suspect business between European companies would continue much the same as before. It may just be some short term disruption on currency rates. This would be avoided by joining the Euro, of course, but that opens another can of worms!