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UKVA welcomes return to ‘business as normal’ as Gove heads Defra
The English wine industry has welcomed the government’s “rapid return to business as normal” following last week’s election, and the appointment of a new Defra Minister, who will take on responsibility for the UK’s burgeoning wine industry.
Barry Lewis, chief executive of the Uk Vine Association (UKVA), the trade body for the English wine industry, welcomed former Tory Minister Michael Gove’s appointment as Environment Minister, pointing to his previous experience in government.
“Mr Gove has a lot of top level experience and knows how to get things done and I am sure he will be someone we can really do business with,” he told db. “Now more than ever as we go forwards into the Brexit negotiations we need people of Mr Gove’s calibre and experience to bring stability and deliver a good deal for UK farming and our industry.”
The controversial Tory minister’s appointment as the new minister for the Environment, Food, Farming and Rural Affairs, was announced yesterday in a cabinet reshuffle following the general election on Thursday. Beleaguered Prime Minister Theresa May has brought back the pro-Brexit minister, who she beat in the Tory election race last year, in a surprise move following last week’s election, which resulted in a hung Parliament after the Conservative’s majority was slashed. May was widely expected to win a landslide majority and called the election to “strengthen her hand” and provider her with a stronger mandate to lead the Brexit negotiations.
Gove is the fourth Defra secretary to be appointed in five years. He replaces Andrea Leadsom, who was appointed to the role in July 2016 after May won the Tory leadership race and moved Defra minister Liz Truss to head up the Justice Dept as Lord Chancellor.
Truss was appointed to the role in 2014 and held the first ever English wine roundtable last year to bring together producers and retailers to discuss boosting production and opening up new routes to markets. She replaced Owen Patterson who joined the department in 2012.
Acreage under vine in the UK has more than doubled in the last decade, and nearly tripled since 2000, with the latest hectarage officially for 2016 now standing at 2,077ha, a figures set to rise to 2,330 ha by 2017, after a further 1 million vines are planted.
However production volumes dipped by nearly 20% below average production in 2016, due to a combination of cool conditions during the summer and a lack of moisture in the later part of the growing season.
The cabinet reshuffle has made no change to the two departments in charge of Brexit, with David Davies continuing in his role as Brexit Secretary, and Liam Fox heading up the International Trade Department, which will oversee global trade agreements.
Really? Barry Lewis who is also a Conservative councillor, may well welcome the appointment of Michael Gove as Minister for a food, Farming and the Environment, possibly for reasons unconnected with the state of the UK’s farming industry which also includes wine production. However some of us have rather longer memories, and can easily recall the way Gove ignored conventional wisdom in education – ‘never trust the experts’ – and alienated almost the entire teaching profession in the process. I await with trepidation his attempts to tell vine growers how to grow grapes and winemakers how to make wine. No, not all of us engaged in Uk wine production welcome the appointment of Michael Gove, and would prefer to have a minister who actually listens to people, but I doubt such a person can be found in the current government.
The Brexit referendum was only narrowly won for the Leave campaign by 52% to 48%. Theresa May’s government have wasted the last year bluffing a scarily hard Brexit position. EU member states, business leaders, and the general public are left feelingly disempowered despite their moral high ground. Theresa May has paid a massive price in the recent General Election, with the loss of the Conservative (Tory) Party majority in the House of Commons.
May is again morally wounded, now by her desperate need to find a Confidence and Supply Agreement with the ultra conservative DUP of Northern Ireland. Despite May’s recent mishap regarding a proposed (Social Care tax) dementia tax the post 2010 Tory government has made progress modernising laws regarding Humanity & Equity issues. All of which is surely now under hand helped threat of reversal. Is the deal with the DUP really worth it, I personally do not think so.
To compensate May needs to find a new Tory consensus on Brexit and has significantly strengthened the power of the Brexit Remainers in her Cabinet. May is a Remainer too. The Brexit negotiation timeframe of 24 months is painfully short for the enormous amount of legislation that needs to be passed. Now that no side has a majority it is not achievable. Placing Gove into this most important position of DEFRA Secretary is designed amongst others things to provide him with the opportunity to help negotiations within the arena of Farming Subsidiaries which will be reduced to zero when the UK leaves the EU (even if the UK remains in the EEA). This loss will be painful.
The possibility of leaving the Single Market is widely acknowledged as the greatest threat to the UK economy. British born Quintessentially now have 18 Lifestyle offices within the Single Market. Many of the key brands that Quintessentially export Consumer Behaviour Advice to are based in the Single Market; by example, BMW, LVMH, Deutsche Bank, and Omega, to name only a few.
Brexit means Brexit but it seems to me that opting to remain an EEA member is the best possible political solution to many of the UK Government’s issues. It would mean putting protection of the Single Market at the centre of the Brexit strategy. The Leavers such as Gove would have their Brexit, (albeit political in nature) which is the core objective. The Remainers would have a dollop of Remain as well, albeit economic in nature. The DUP wish to keep an open and tariff free inter-Irish border.
I have been seriously considering moving more elements of the Quintessentially wine service into France. A more pro-business and stable stance by the UK Government via EEA membership would be very welcome.
The EEA includes all EU countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Switzerland is neither a EU nor EEA member but is also part of the Single Market.
The Single Market provides members the same open rights to trade, live, and work across states. In regards to the Single Market the EU are the ‘law-makers’; the other countries are (unfortunately for Brexit UK) the ‘law-takers’.
EEA membership would allow the UK the right to negotiate its own trade deals with other partner countries such as the USA (where Quintessentially has four offices) and the Commonwealth nations. Quintessentially has many offices within the Commonwealth. The USA and the Commonwealth are top priority target markets of exporters of UK produced Wines & Spirits.
It is the keen goal of the UK’s Wine and Spirits Trade Association that there is as a result of Brexit absolutely no change within the industry to the free movement of goods and labour. This would be hugely helpful to exporters of Scotch and Gin. EEA membership, which I am advocating, would secure this.
I would hope that seeking EEA membership would also provide the markets with enough hope and stability to see an increase in the value Sterling against the Euro. This helping to relieve the unbearable pressure on importers to the UK of entry level and mid-market wine; the pressure caused by the post Brexit Sterling slum.
I am hugely interested in helping my stakeholders have access to exceptional European wines that are in perfect condition and ready to drink now. I want to achieve this without inconvenience and via the most efficient (cost and time) manner possible. I hope that the UK Government have the good sense to keep the UK in the EEA. I think being part of a widely consumerised wine market is good for UK based wine producers too, with the exception of France, Italy, and Spain, I believe there are many wine markets that can be won for the UK.
I must admit however that given their high net worth demographic my Quintessentially members are unlikely to go without their daily Champagne either way. English sparkling wine despite the uber quality has not yet made enough impression on the High Net Worth consumer which benefit from the confidence provided by access via Quintessentially to the most exclusive editions of the well established global luxury brands such as Dom Perignon, Cristal, and Krug.