Now that is on the record.
I say again that we have a thriving domestic wine production industry, which is continuing to grow at speed. WineGB, which represents most domestic wine producers, reported that 2023 saw Great Britain’s largest ever grape harvest, which it is estimated will produce 20 million to 22 million bottles of British wine. There was overwhelming support for updating these oenological practices from both our domestic producers and international trading partners, all understanding the importance of having access to the latest methodologies.
Finally, on the reforms on wine not being all done in one SI, the department has been working at pace to drive forward wine reforms from retained EU law and implementing the reforms in three phases, the first of which came into force on 1 January this year to dovetail with the end of an easement relating to importer labelling. The second instalment, in this SI, is due to come in in July in time to ratify the CPTPP agreement and now we can focus on the final phase. I think the logic behind that is that it is better to keep things moving rather than doing things in one block, which could have caused uncertainty to producers and importers.