{"id":381186,"date":"2025-08-28T23:36:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T23:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/381186\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T23:36:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T23:36:10","slug":"foie-gras-and-gene-editing-sticking-points-of-brexit-reset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/381186\/","title":{"rendered":"Foie gras and gene editing sticking points of Brexit reset"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brexit reset minister refused to say whether he will try to preserve UK laws allowing gene editing of crops or a pledge to ban foie gras imports<\/a> as part of a food deal with the EU.<\/p>\n

Nick Thomas-Symonds set out on Wednesday the case for aligning with Brussels rules to strike a new food and drink deal <\/a>designed to reduce border checks on trade, boost the economy and bring down prices for British shoppers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But he said there \u201cwill be some carve-outs\u201d for the UK to be negotiated when both sides return to the table for talks this autumn, which the minister hopes will bring about a final deal by 2027.<\/p>\n

New FeatureIn ShortQuick Stories. Same trusted journalism.<\/p>\n

Experts have speculated that the UK is likely to ask for an exemption to allow it to maintain laws allowing the gene editing of crops<\/a>, introduced by the Conservatives as a major Brexit freedom following the departure from the EU.<\/p>\n

Britain would also need an exemption from EU law if Labour wants to live up to its pre-election pledge to ban foie gras imports on animal welfare<\/a> grounds.<\/p>\n

Animal export concerns<\/p>\n

There have also been concerns that the UK\u2019s live animal export ban may have to be reversed as this is another area where Britain has diverged from EU law.<\/p>\n

Under the proposed food and drink deal, both sides would follow the same rules \u2013 originating in Brussels \u2013 in order to ensure minimal checks and friction on trade in that industry across the border.<\/p>\n

Pressed by The i Paper on whether the carve-outs he would seek would cover gene editing, foie gras and the animal export ban, Thomas-Symonds told a Spectator event hosted by former Leave campaign leader Michael Gove: \u201cIn terms of the carve-outs, that is obviously the negotiation that is now going to take place, and forgive me for not cutting across the process when we are engaging at the moment, both obviously across Whitehall, looking across different areas, but also.. with different stakeholders as well, to get a priority sense of what are the most important issues to secure.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt\u2019s a live negotiation that\u2019s going to be going on in the autumn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gove, who introduced and advocated the policies as a Conservative cabinet minister, suggested he could back a deal aligning with Brussels laws \u2013 despite leading the Leave campaign \u2013 if those Brexit freedoms could be maintained.<\/p>\n

Farage accused of \u2018easy answers\u2019<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Thomas-Symonds rejected claims from Reform\u2019s Nigel Farage<\/a> and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch<\/a> that the food and drink deal would amount to treason because it would involve giving up UK sovereignty.<\/p>\n

The EU relations minister accused the pair of offering only \u201ceasy answers and snake oil\u201d when it comes to the post-Brexit relationship with Brussels.<\/p>\n

Setting out his plan to strike a food and drink deal by 2027, he said: Some will hysterically cry even treason. Some will say we\u2019re surrendering sovereignty or freedoms, but that is nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cNow we know we are going to have a political fight on this, especially when we legislate for it in Parliament.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the Prime Minister was very direct in his instructions to me on taking office \u2013 national interests first, build on what\u2019s best about Britain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are determined to plug the gaps, to rebuild Britain, protect our borders, bring down bills in every part of the country and secure good jobs \u2013 a new relationship of mutual benefit, one that brings freedom back to our businesses and exercises our sovereignty.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it needs pragmatism \u2013 when you\u2019re tough, decisive and collaborative. That cannot rest on easy answers and snake oil. The Tories [are] completely 2D, stuck with a ghost of Brexit past. And then Nigel Farage, who has pledged to reverse our progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farage criticised the proposed deal in May, writing in The Daily Telegraph that it would push the UK \u201cback into the orbit of Brussels, giving away vast amounts of our sovereignty for very little in return\u201d.<\/p>\n

He also wrote: \u201cA Reform government would undo all of this with legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Badenoch said Labour\u2019s approach would make the UK a \u201csupplicant\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy worry is that Labour are taking us backwards instead of taking us forwards,\u201d the Tory leader said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brexit reset minister refused to say whether he will try to preserve UK laws allowing gene editing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[24408,802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,42796,4884,528,3027,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-381186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-animal-welfare","9":"tag-brexit","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-european","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-food-standards","16":"tag-great-britain","17":"tag-labour-party","18":"tag-politics-news","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115109022034058034","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}