The Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) represents a major achievement in facilitating trade between the UK and the EU, delivering a deal for the UK in record time, and under extremely challenging conditions. We have secured an unprecedented Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with no tariffs or quotas on goods traded. This is first time the EU has ever agreed complete tariff-free quota-free access in an FTA. New SPS requirements for agri-food trade with the EU, such as health certification and border checks, are part of the UK’s transition away from being part of the EU Single Market to a relationship centred on free trade. These requirements apply to all the EU’s other trading partners who do not align with their rules. What we have done in the TCA’s SPS chapter is put in place a framework that allows the UK and the EU to take informed decisions to reduce their respective SPS controls, with a commitment to avoid unnecessary barriers. It is in both Parties’ interests to pursue this through the Specialised Committee set up under the SPS chapter which will, among other responsibilities, review the Parties’ SPS measures, including certification requirements and border clearance processes, and their application, in order to facilitate trade between the Parties. The TCA’s SPS Annex sets out principles to be used when setting the level of SPS border checks. Despite some compromises to reach an agreement, the UK has secured its top priorities on SPS, which are autonomy for our domestic regime and protection of our biosecurity. 2 Fourth Special Report of Session 2021–22 Equivalence is a cornerstone of the WTO SPS Agreement to which both the UK and EU are party and has been agreed by the EU in their previous FTAs. So, it was a sensible starting point for our trading relationship, and we proposed a Canada-style FTA, which would have provided a basis for reducing the level of non-tariff trade barriers within an equivalence framework. The EU’s refusal to include equivalence was a surprise to us but we have agreed to cooperate with them on reviewing our respective SPS measures, with a view to avoiding unjustified SPS barriers in a relationship centred on free trade. Frictionless trade would require regulatory alignment with the EU, which would not only undermine our regulatory autonomy but also our sovereignty as an independent trading nation. the EU following the end of the Transition Period.