The Growth Commission and its Chairman, Shanker Singham, have raised the temperature on the discussion on the discussion of the reportedly near-alignment of the United Kingdom with the European Union’s health and agricultural standards, known as SPS regulations.
Various newspapers and other media, including The Telegraph, and GB News have carried the Growth Commission’s warnings concerning a potential £15 Billion loss for the UK. Jacob Rees-Mogg of GB News interviewed Shanker Singham on the issue.
In addition, Lord Jackson of Peterborough and Baroness Lawlor cited Growth Commission calculations of the likely cost of the UK aligning with EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) regulations during the House of Lords debates on the Government’s so-called EU ‘reset’ on 26th February. (See here.)
In an Opinion piece in CAPX on February 24, entitled “Starmer’s EU ‘reset’ risks a £15bn hit to GDP”, Shanker Singham wrote the following:
“When it comes to the global trading system, there is an ongoing battle between two competing models.
The first sees regulatory competition with equivalence and mutual recognition as far as regulations are concerned. That’s the classic system embodied by the likes of the United States, the World Trade Organisation and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
The second model is that favoured by China and the European Union, which demands harmonisation of regulations at the most restrictive level, making market access dependent on replicating regulations.
The United Kingdom’s vote to leave the EU was in part a rejection of this latter model; and without question one of the greatest benefits of Brexit –albeit one still yet to be fully embraced and taken advantage of – is the ability to reject the one-size-fits-all approach to regulation taken by Brussels and instead calibrate our own home-grown rules for the maximum benefit of British consumers and businesses.
Regrettably, as part of its so-called ‘reset’ of relations with the EU, the current British Government is looking at going down the route of aligning its Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) regulations with those of the EU….”