Single Market Return? FPC Warns We Must Safeguard Britain’s Global Food Supply
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has reportedly been handed a new post-Brexit proposal that would take Britain far beyond the modest "Reset" currently on the table and its one that could see the UK rejoin the EU's single market for goods altogether.
According to The Telegraph, the plan was drawn up by Nick Boles, the former Conservative MP who quit the party in 2019 and went on to help Sir Keir Starmer prepare for government. It calls for Britain to push for the creation of a "European Confederation" linking the EU's free-trade zone with NATO's defence commitments — with Ukraine, Switzerland, Norway and the Western Balkan states also invited to join.
In exchange for access to the single market for goods, without having to accept free movement of people or join the euro, Britain would commit to spending 3.5% of GDP on defence and extending its nuclear umbrella to non-NATO allies not currently covered by Trident.
Boles argues a new approach is needed because there is no longer any guarantee the US will "defend Europe as if it were Kansas," and that a UK offer built around solving Europe's shared security problems — rather than a narrow bilateral ask — stands a better chance of landing than Sir Keir Starmer's single-market approach, which Brussels previously rejected.
Number 10 has so far only confirmed that Mr Burnham intends to "consolidate the progress made on the existing UK-EU negotiations." Whether he holds his predecessor's red lines — no return to freedom of movement, no return to the single market or customs union — is, for now, an open question. Europe minister Hamish Falconer has said the government is "not talking about rejoining today," while declining to rule it out of a future manifesto.
Why this matters even more for fresh produce
For FPC, this story lands squarely on the question the sector has been pressing government on for months through its UK-EU Reset Action Pack: easing trade with the EU is welcome, but not if it comes at the expense of the Rest of World imports making up around half of everything Britain eats that can't be grown here that keep Britain's fruit, vegetables, plants and flowers on shelves and affordable, all year round.
A "Reset" limited to SPS alignment already risked layering EU-style border controls onto Rest of World trade that has a 99.5% compliance record. A move as significant as single market membership raises the same question at a far larger scale: if the UK's goods regime moves closer to the EU's own, what happens to the standards and checks applied to fruit, vegetables and flowers arriving from outside Europe?
"The bigger the ambition on Europe, the bigger the question we've been asking all year: what happens to the rest of the world? A single market deal that solves the EU side of the equation but simply exports the cost and complexity onto Rest of World supply chains isn't a solution, it's the same problem at a larger scale. Fresh produce is exactly where this gets tested first — short shelf lives, thin margins, and a supply chain that depends on speed. Whatever shape this deal ultimately takes, industry has to be at the table from day one, not consulted after the framework is already set." ~ Nigel Jenney, Chief Executive, Fresh Produce Consortium
Two ways to make sure the industry's voice is heard
With a decision of this scale potentially in play, FPC is urging the sector — and the public — not to wait for the detail to be settled before speaking up. The UK-EU Reset Action Pack lets anyone write directly to their MP in under ten minutes, setting out what's at stake for fresh produce supply, prices and availability. And the "One Squeeze Too Far" chefs' petition, run by FPC in partnership with Delifresh, has already been signed by more than 1,350 chefs, restaurateurs and kitchen professionals warning that further disruption to supply chains will be felt directly in Britain's kitchens.
Both sit together at freshproduceaction.co.uk, alongside the latest coverage of the campaign.
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