Ministers have refused to tell Parliament how much Britain will pay the European Union under Labour’s planned food and farming deal, three weeks before the summit at which both sides hope to seal it.
The UK agreed in principle last year to make a financial contribution to the EU for the deal. A Defra minister says the details remain subject to negotiation.
In a written answer published on Thursday, the farming minister Stephen Morgan told the Conservative MP Mike Wood that ‘any financial arrangements associated with the UK-EU SPS agreement, including the details of any payments, remain subject to ongoing negotiations’. He added: ‘Further information will be provided once the agreement has been finalised.’
Mr Wood had asked what estimate the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had made of the payments the UK will be required to make to the EU under the agreement, and into which funds or programmes. The answer gave no estimate and named no fund.
The sanitary and phytosanitary, or SPS, agreement would bring Britain’s food, plant and animal health rules into line with the EU’s to cut checks on agri-food trade. That some payment is coming is not in doubt. The Common Understanding agreed at the UK-EU summit in May 2025, under Sir Keir Starmer, says the deal ‘should provide for an appropriate financial contribution from the United Kingdom to support the relevant costs associated with the European Union’s work in this policy area’.
The same wording appears for the planned link between the British and EU carbon markets. The commitment was made under Sir Keir, and it is Andy Burnham’s Government that is now negotiating the final terms.
The timetable is short. In a speech to the European Parliament on 20 October, the European Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said the aim was to conclude the food deal, the carbon market link and a youth experience scheme as a package at the EU-UK summit on 20 November.
A second bill is being negotiated separately. In March the Council of the EU authorised talks on Britain joining the EU’s internal electricity market, alongside a ‘permanent mechanism’ for a UK payment towards reducing disparities between EU regions.
The Council said that payment was ‘part of a consistent EU policy that couples the granting of market access to a third country with a fair financial contribution reflecting the benefits derived from such access’. It would apply to the electricity deal ‘and any further agreement affording the UK access to the Union’s internal market’. Mr Šefčovič said those talks would continue beyond the summit.
Britain is already paying to rejoin one EU scheme. The Government says the UK’s contribution to Erasmus+ for 2027 will be approximately £570 million, after a 30 per cent discount on the default terms. In a separate answer on Thursday, the education minister Josh MacAlister told Mr Wood the figure was set by the formula in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, ‘with GDP as the primary determinant’. Mr Wood had asked why Britain must pay at all when more EU students are expected to come to British institutions than British students go the other way.
Ministers have taken the same line on the food deal in the Commons. At Environment questions on 22 October, Mr Morgan said the talks were in their final stages. ‘Details are subject to ongoing negotiations, and we will not be providing a running commentary,’ he said, adding that a regulatory impact assessment would be prepared ‘as part of the normal process’.
The Conservative MP John Cooper cited a CropLife UK warning that aligning with EU rules on crop protection could cost British farming £810 million. Mr Morgan replied that the report was ‘clear that the numbers presented are a worst-case scenario’. The shadow farming minister, Robbie Moore, told him: ‘The EU summit is to take place in just 28 days’ time, but the Farming Minister cannot answer key questions.’
There is a case for easier trade with Britain’s nearest market. Mr Morgan told MPs the agreement could increase exports of major primary agricultural commodities to the EU by around 16 per cent, and British exporters have long complained about the cost of border checks.
But the deal also means dynamic alignment with EU rules that Britain will be consulted on but will not vote on, and Parliament has not been told what the Government will pay for it.
Mr Morgan says further information will come once the agreement is finalised. On the EU’s timetable, that is 20 November.
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