On 19 May, the EU-UK summit will take place, providing a crucial opportunity for this government to fulfil its commitment to reset EU relations and uphold food safety and animal health and welfare standards. A Veterinary Medicines Agreement is crucial to this, and a strategic necessity that spans animal health and welfare, the economic viability of farming, public health and trade.
As a veterinary surgeon, I have seen first-hand the irreplaceable value of the availability of a wide range of safe, effective veterinary medicines in protecting animal health and welfare. It’s essential to disease prevention, combatting the challenge of antimicrobial resistance and safeguarding public health.
It’s not just vets and pet owners who need access to these products. Farmers everywhere, including in my constituency Winchester, need these essential veterinary medicines to protect their livestock and their livelihoods. In turn, this protects supply chains and food security.
Yet access to these products is being quietly undermined by the absence of a Veterinary Medicines Agreement between the UK and the EU, with the potential for future regulatory gaps to arise.
Since Brexit, our veterinary medicine regulations have started to drift from those of the EU. While the current differences are still very limited, their impact is not. In a tightly regulated sector, even minor misalignments can create significant administrative burden and serious disruption to supply and product availability.
Some veterinary medicines are already reaching EU markets months before they’re available in Great Britain. NOAH (the National Office of Animal Health) is already receiving reports from members about slower authorisations for key products in Great Britain compared to the EU, including some livestock vaccines.
This isn’t just an inconvenience. Delays like these affect the ability of farmers to manage disease outbreaks early, increasing the likelihood of animal suffering, production losses, and the spread of illness through herds and flocks.
And when livestock health suffers, so does food production. This threatens the stability and security of our food supply, drives up on-farm costs and feeds through to higher prices at the checkout.
When consumers are already facing a cost-of-living crisis, failing to safeguard food production systems is short-sighted and irresponsible.
The picture is even more urgent in Northern Ireland. Veterinary medicines were excluded from the Windsor Framework derogations granted for human medicines and it is expected that — if a deal isn’t reached soon — up to 15% of animal medicines could be withdrawn from the Northern Ireland market by the end of this year.
This would have serious consequences for farmers, vets and animal owners. It would also fragment the UK’s internal market, creating uncertainty and inconsistency in disease control.
The UK’s animal health sector has developed a clear and credible framework for a Veterinary Medicines Agreement. It includes proposals for harmonised technical assessments, mutual recognition of batch testing, certification and release, coordinated labelling, and cooperation on pharmacovigilance and antimicrobial resistance.
These aren’t lofty ambitions. They are practical steps that would reduce bureaucracy, improve access to vital products, and ensure resilience across the supply chain.
Access to veterinary medicines isn’t a party-political matter – it’s a national interest. It affects every part of our food system and is essential if we’re serious about maintaining the UK’s world-leading animal welfare standards. Consumers and the public need this cross-border cooperation.
The EU-UK summit is the government’s chance to fix this. A veterinary medicines agreement, either within a wider Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) deal or as a standalone chapter, must be on the table.
We have the evidence. We have the industry alignment. What we need now is political leadership. The cost of doing nothing is simply too high.
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