Food and Drink Newsletter Winter 2017

We all know that the sector faces some complex challenges driven principally by Britain’s fast approaching EU exit, but also, perhaps, some exciting opportunities, including emerging export markets.

We believe that government and industry must now work together to develop a new approach to support the success of UK food & drink that focuses on what we see as five key priorities:

• Availability/stability of workforce which is impacted by direct immigration policies and indirect factors such as sterling’s reduced attractiveness as a wage currency
• International trade: competitive access to existing and new export markets and the ability to import the commodities we need
• Regulatory stability with some control over the costs of compliance and monitoring – be that FSA or HMRC
• Support through availability of funding to ensure we maximise the potential of our high quality produce, service delivery and brands
• Innovation and technology to increase efficiency, continue to develop competitive products, and reduce the impact of inevitable workforce contraction