UK Agriculture and Food Policy Post Brexit: An Irish Perspective

The UK’s post-Brexit agriculture and food policy is a matter of considerable interest to the EU27, which supplies about 70% of UK food imports. Thus, the questions of the future level of access to the UK market, and the levels of return from the UK market, are very relevant to the EU27.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the available information on future UK policy on agriculture and food, and to seek to draw some broad conclusions as regards the implications for future UK food production, and for the export prospects for the EU, and particularly for Ireland, in the UK market.

The author, Con Lucey, was Chief Economist of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) from 1979 to 2008.  He was a Council member of the IIEA for many years, and is a member of the IIEA’s UK expert group.