Member

The noble Baroness, Lady Redfern, asked about the international position on export. By allowing manufacturers to continue to export the products, we are ensuring those businesses remain viable and competitive in the international market. This helps to minimise the economic impact of the ban but also gives manufacturers time to develop sustainable alternatives to wet wipes containing plastic. We also understand that this could, for some UK manufacturers who export abroad—mainly to the European Union—have a huge impact on them if we just suddenly pulled the rug. Therefore, under the new regulations, UK manufacturers will be able to continue to do this. However, we need to ensure that wet wipes containing plastic that are manufactured in the UK are not then supplied or sold in the UK. The ban will be enforced by trading standards with various penalties for non-compliance.