My Lords, it is a pleasure to introduce this group of amendments. I will speak mainly to my Amendment 89A, but I also give a positive nod towards the other two amendments in this group, not least the one in the name of my noble friend Lady Neville-Rolfe, which is clear in its intent and its need. I thank all the organisations and individuals who have helped me with this amendment in Committee and on Report, particularly the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, the WSTA.
What would Amendment 89A do? Effectively, it suggests to the Government that, come 1 January next year, it would not be a good idea to voluntarily introduce paper wine import forms. There is no obligation, regulation, nor even any international law that says we need to introduce this documentation. It is, by design, paper-based protectionism. That is not me maligning it; it is protectionist paper by design. The amendment suggests that a more fruitful route for the Government would be to pause and not introduce this paper-based documentation for the importation of wine. Although the amendment is specific to wine importation, in principle it could apply to the import-export business of a range of other sectors of our economy.
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The Government are choosing to introduce the paper-based VI1 forms, as they are called, voluntarily. An alternative route—I hope that this makes the amendment appealing both to your Lordships’ House and to the Minister—and the beauty at the heart of this amendment, is asking the Government in the first instance to do nothing. Subsequently, they could look at more effective and efficient means of running such processes, with digital means and technologies such as distributed ledger technology underpinning all of our efficient, effective international trade, not least in agricultural and, in this case, wine products.
If you will, this amendment is a stop-start amendment. If the Government agree to it, we will stop businesses needing to relocate to continental Europe and the associated job losses, which will occur if we do not. We will stop that loss of tax revenue, and we will stop the mountain of paperwork coming in. We will start to underpin what we need for border 2025. We certainly have the opportunity to have a border that is the envy
of the world. This amendment would be one tiny piece of that jigsaw and demonstrate what we could have if we had a truly effective and operationalised utility trade platform across all agricultural, horticultural and import-export products.
This is in no sense fantasy land. It is not speculative; it is proven. I was involved with and led a project on reducing friction in international trade that was specific to the importation of wine produce. The report on that can be seen on my blog—at lordchrisholmes.com—which has all the details underpinning this amendment.
Effectively, if the Government go ahead and reject this amendment there will be not a small amount of additional paperwork, but an estimated 600,000 additional forms, and the work of wine inspectors will triple overnight. This does not feel like the basis of the 21st-century, digitally enabled global trading nation that we all seek to achieve. In the words of the head of Chainvine, one of the organisations involved in this proof of concept, we need to have a “war on paper”. It is unsustainable and has no resilience, as the recent Covid crisis has all too effectively demonstrated. James Miles, the CEO of Liv-ex, one of our brilliant wine merchant businesses, says that this will put unbelievable pressure on his business, and his business alone would have an estimated 15,000 of these additional forms to complete, which is extraordinary. International trade, free flowing, frictionless—it does not feel like that at all. The amendment offers the Government the opportunity to do nothing in the first instance.
On finance, if we do not pass this amendment there will be a potential £70 million cost to all British businesses involved in wine importation. For the consumer, it will mean prices up and choice of product down. We are the world’s second largest importer of wine product by value and by volume; this industry matters. Businesses involved in the wine trade include the brilliant bottling plants outside Bristol and Manchester, and the wine merchants of the Midlands and all across the country. For those hundreds of businesses, the thousands of jobs involved and the millions of consumers, will my noble friend the Minister consider accepting the amendment? If not, will she commit to working with me to come up with something which can address this issue in time for Third Reading?
I reserve the right to push the amendment, depending on how the debate goes and where we get to at the end of this group of amendments. I look forward to noble Lords’ contributions. I beg to move.