Brexit Must Used To Improve Regulations - Farming Unions

Four farming unions have said that Brexit must be seen to deliver a regulatory framework suited to UK farmers.

The comments were made as the NFU, Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU), NFU Cymru, and NFU Scotland held a joint meeting in Newcastle, Northern Ireland, to discuss the latest developments around Brexit.

UFU president Barclay Bell said: "Our departure from the EU must be an opportunity, not just to ensure continuity but to deliver a regulatory framework suited to UK farmers, whether through the Great Repeal Bill process or through other legislative and regulatory measures.

"It's clear that the intention of the Great Repeal Bill is to replicate EU law intact and unchanged into UK law as far as practicable, and to make changes only to ensure laws remain operable. We hope that this is not a missed opportunity, and that Government will, as a matter of priority, look at ways to ensure agriculture operates under an efficient and streamlined regulatory system, for instance through a future Agriculture Bill.

"The task of transferring the vast expanse of existing EU law into UK law will be one of the biggest legislative challenges this country has ever faced. And farming is probably impacted more than any other sector, with a huge number of pieces of directly applicable EU legislation and national implementing regulations governing the way our farmers carry out their day-to-day businesses. Most importantly it must not jeopardise our future trading relationship with Europe."