“What assessment his Department has made of the effect of labour shortages on the harvesting of crops in autumn 2021.”
Asked by
Sir Roger Gale
Answering Minister
the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Answer from Hansard
The Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security (Mr Douglas Alexander)
As we have just been discussing, increasing trade with European countries is and has been a focus of discussion between Ministers in the Department for Business and Trade and their EU counterparts. I recently met Ministers from Spain, France, Denmark, Poland and Germany, and work is under way on the first UK-EU summit, scheduled to take place on 19 May; trade and the economy will form one element of a broader agenda about our strategic partnership. Across wider Europe, we are negotiating an enhanced free trade agreement with Switzerland, which we hope will strengthen our trading relationship there.