Latest farm machinery regulations are 'direct threat' to survival of family-run business

Writing to Hilary Benn, Mr Allister said: “This is but another sector now hurting because of your government’s obeisant support for EU diktats and failure to stand up for those for whom you are described as Secretary of State.”

The TUV leader enclosed an email he had received from a local family-run agricultural machinery business who had written to him “out of sheer frustration and genuine concern for the future of small businesses and family farms in Northern Ireland”.

They described the latest regulations under the Northern Ireland Plant Health Label Scheme (NIPHL), affecting the import of used agricultural and forestry machinery from Great Britain, as “completely unworkable and deeply unjust”.

“As a second-generation, family-run agricultural machinery business that has served local farmers across Northern Ireland for over 50 years, I can say without hesitation that these new rules are placing intolerable pressure on us, our hauliers and, most importantly, our farming customers,” the business owner said.

“These unnecessary checks and red tape are driving up costs, delaying deliveries, and adding layers of complexity that small businesses simply cannot absorb. And as always, it’s the end user — the hard-working Northern Ireland farmer — who bears the brunt of it. We are already in a fragile position; these regulations are a direct threat to our survival.

“This new scheme, introduced by DEFRA and DAERA, has created yet another hurdle for an already struggling rural economy, and it has been done without proper consultation with the people it impacts most.

“Let me make one thing absolutely clear: this is not something new. For the entire time we have imported machinery from mainland UK, it has always been required to be clean. We know the standards, we’ve always complied, and we’ve never cut corners. This isn’t about safety or cleanliness — it’s about adding pointless bureaucracy for the sake of it.

“To add insult to injury, there are no equivalent checks for machinery moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain. How can this be justified? How can a supposedly United Kingdom allow such a blatantly one-sided, discriminatory system to exist?”

The business has “legally and safely” imported used machinery from the mainland for the past five decades – a “routine and essential part of doing business on this island”.

“Now, we are being penalised for something that has always been lawful, logical, and vital to keeping local agriculture running. It is completely nonsensical,” they continued.

“Let’s be clear: Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. We are not a separate nation. Yet once again, Northern Ireland’s farmers and rural businesses are being treated as second-class citizens — an afterthought at best. This is yet another example of policy being made with no regard for the people who actually keep the food on the table.

“Enough is enough. Small businesses like ours and the entire agricultural industry in Northern Ireland are being dealt blow after blow by a system that does not understand or support us.”