Cheese-maker calls EU deal 'a major leap forward'

A cheese-maker who says he lost £600,000 of business due to Brexit has called the prime minister's new EU deal a "major leap forwards" for his company's hopes of re-entering the European market.

Simon Spurell, director of Hartington Creamery in Derbyshire, said Boris Johnson's hard Brexit deal in 2020 meant nearly £250,000 of sales revenue disappeared "overnight".

He told the BBC he was later forced to sell his other "unviable" business, Cheshire Cheese Company, in November 2022.

The 57 year-old said the new deal, if signed and fully implemented, was "something that should have been in place since day one".

"I'm really pleased that this will help small British producers be able to go back into the European market," Mr Spurell said.

Since Brexit, UK goods travelling to the EU, including food products like Mr Spurrell's cheese, have faced new robust checks and extra paperwork.

Johnson's deal meant veterinary certificates were needed on red meat and poultry, as well as milk and cream products.

The EU interpreted the deal as a departure from the agreed "dynamic alignment" on food standards, which resulted in smaller businesses having to pay more money to get their products into Europe.

Mr Spurrell, who lives in Rushton Spencer, on the Derbyshire-Cheshire border, said he had to pay £160 per veterinary certification on all retail orders in Europe - even for cheese orders worth £20.

In 2021 - the first year of Brexit trading operations - he says he lost £240,000 in wholesale and consumer business in Europe for both Hartington Creamery and Cheshire Cheese Company.

"As there was no exemption in place for the consumer in the 2020 deal, we lost distribution deals in France, Germany and Austria," he said.

A further loss of £350,000 the following year prompted Mr Spurrell to sell his business to Joseph Heler Ltd, a larger cheese maker in Nantwich, Cheshire.

Mr Spurrell said Cheshire Cheese Company was sold because it was "more attractive to buy" than his smaller artisan Hartington Creamery business.

"The very bureaucratic form-filling and extra costs, such as veterinary checks and longer border checks was an overnight disaster and put small UK businesses at a significant commercial disadvantage," he said.

"We've lost out on £1m-1.5m worth of potential revenue from the EU and that Brexit deal utterly smashed businesses' opportunities to expand into Europe dead."

Now the EU and UK have agreed to work on a joint food safety agreement that could remove many of the current barriers.

If signed and fully implemented, it should reduce paperwork, ease checks, and could even lift bans on products like raw meats.

But the deal comes with conditions.

The UK will need to follow future EU food standards – the "dynamic alignment" system – and accept that the European Court of Justice will have the final say in any disputes in this area.

The UK will also have to make a financial contribution. However it is currently unknown how much this will be and when it will be required.

Hartington Creamery's co-founder and managing director Robert Gosling, said he was feeling "optimistic" about the new deal.

"The orginal Brexit deal was more complicated and had endless paperwork," he said.

"Any change should bring opportunity so we will have to wait but it should make things better for us."

Mr Spurrell said: "I'm really pleased we are now having grown-up conversations that will lead to some quick transitions into a new trading partnership.

"The new dynamic alignment of food standards is a major leap forward and it's something that should have been in place since day one."

He said he was now "fully focused" on getting his Derbyshire business back trading with Europe.

"Me and Robert have been building up the Hartington brand and hopefully now we can expand into Europe further with this new deal," he said.

"I would like to see us go back into the EU market without the overheads that have been restrictive in the past."

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