UK-EU deal will ‘dissolve’ £60m a year of costs for plant trade, says Angela Eagle

Signing of agreement to smooth movement of food, plants and animals next week will not recoup huge sums firms were forced to spend

The removal of border checks and paperwork on plant imports will “dissolve” £60m of annual costs for the horticulture industry when the UK and EU’s new post-Brexit deal comes in, the environment secretary has said.

Before the UK-EU summit on 20 November, Angela Eagle said she hoped paperwork headaches for importers would “disappear” after the changes, although the move would not help businesses recoup the large sums they spent to deal with border controls.

“If we get the ink dry on 20 November, which I very much hope we will … all of that uncertainty, the extra cost, the paperwork and the potential problems if things get stuck at borders would all disappear,” Eagle told the Guardian during a visit to a plant nursery in Kent.

“The cost, that £60m, can just dissolve and people’s potential to both export back into the EU and get their imports in … gets easier and more predictable.”

The UK’s departure from the bloc triggered the introduction of border checks on imports and exports of plants, food and animal products, from sausages and cheese to trees and leather goods.