South Down MP Margaret Ritchie (SDLP) has lead a delegation made up of representatives from the NI Meat Exporters Association and the International Meat Trade Association at a Ministerial meeting with DEFRA Minister George Eustice.
Ms Ritchie said: “I was glad to be able to give our meat exporters the opportunity to put their concerns over Brexit directly to DEFRA Minister George Eustice. Together we made clear the need to retain our membership of the Single Market to ensure there is no post-Brexit cliff edge for our agri-exporters.”
“The Government must recognise that access to the Single Market and full free trade are not the same things – the on-going conflation of the two things is reassuring nobody. To combat the growing uncertainty facing the industry, the Government should be seeking to protect our Single Market membership whilst opening up new export opportunities globally.”
