I am grateful to my noble friend and the noble Baroness for their views on this instrument. I believe we all recognise the importance of the wine industry. These changes support this aim and will ensure greater flexibility. I recognise that a majority of these first-phase reforms will apply only in England. As I said earlier, the Welsh Government and Defra have agreed to pursue reforms together, allowing these benefits to flow to the wine industry in both nations.
We are working with Scotland. Of the wine we drink in this country, I think only 1% is produced here. Most of that is produced in the south-east of England but a wine industry is now emerging across the United Kingdom. We want to encourage this. It shows farmers and land managers adapting to a changing climate and opportunities for a home-grown industry that we want to see flourish. The changes to importer labelling are required to ensure that the industry avoids unnecessary costs. Revoking importer labelling provisions in wine law will result in the application of the general food law provisions relating to food business operator labelling. This is a change I assure noble Lords that both this Government and the wine industry wish to see.
I hope that it will get the support of the House. Our desire is to improve the sustainability and innovation of the wine sector through enabling PDOs to be applied for in relation to wines made from hybrid grape varieties. This brings long-term benefits to both industry and the environment as well as increasing consumer choice. Blending wine also offers this opportunity, in addition to improving consistency and reducing waste. A serious point made by the Wine and Spirits Trade Association is that the blending of wine is something that the industry wants to do. It is in the consumers’ interest, it reduces waste and it improves quality. It allows for the same flexibility that vineyards have to supply wine that the consumer wants.
The Government also wish to free our wine industry from inherited EU bureaucracy by removing the certification arrangements for non-GI wine marketed with a variety and/or vintage indication. Again, these reforms aim to remove additional costs and administrative burdens on producers. The improvements this Government have made on wine will provide consumer confidence and sustainable growth, encourage frictionless trade, improve our environmental impact and, most importantly, remove unnecessary burdens.
My noble friend Lady McIntosh asked why we are doing this now and then tabling a further two statutory instruments later. The answer is that it is important to get this one agreed before the end of the year, when otherwise the transitional labelling rules will end. We want all food business-operated rules to be in place by 1 January. The other two statutory instruments are slightly more technical in nature and require a bit more work. We are working at pace to bring those forward in the new year.
The noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, also referred to labelling. We want to make sure that labelling is simple and straightforward. We have sought to reduce the burden on producers but still offer the correct labelling. This requirement will allow, for example, the words “a blend of wines from Australia” or “a blend of wines from Chile and Argentina” to be on the bottle. That gives enough information to the consumer, but also secures what we believe is a proportionate requirement on the industry.
I think I have addressed all the points raised. I hope the House will approve this instrument.