Opposition to the UK government’s prospective Australia trade deal continues to rage, with farmers claiming the proposals are “wholly irresponsible” and the SNP throwing down a gauntlet for Scottish secretary Alister Jack to “fight back” or resign.
Reports this week that – following fierce opposition within cabinet – international trade secretary Liz Truss had been given the go-ahead by Boris Johnson to offer a 15-year transition period eventually allowing Australian exporters unfettered access to the UK market, free of protections requested by British farmers, were immediately met with outcry.
As the UK’s National Beef Association warned such a deal could set a template for other future post-Brexit agreements with the likes of the US and New Zealand, a longstanding Conservative think-tank warned the party’s “core countryside vote” was at risk, and Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford suggested Wales’ national identity could also be threatened.
With the Department for International Trade (DIT) still insisting this weekend that the deal will “include protections for the agriculture industry, while also ensuring farmers are not undercut and the high standards we have in place are not compromised”, the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford sought to ramp up pressure on ministers to revolt.
In a letter penned to Mr Jack, the Scottish secretary, he warned that the speculation over a phased zero-tariff, zero-quota offer from the UK – as demanded by Canberra – “could, in effect, place a time limit on the future of farming livelihoods across these islands”.
Warning the secretary of state that “such a trade deal would represent a bitter betrayal of rural communities” and amount to a “genuine threat” to the future viability of UK agriculture, Mr Blackford said: “I urge you to break your deafening silence on this crucial issue and fight back against this damaging deal.”
“Given the seriousness and scale of this issue for Scotland’s farmers and crofters, it is also clear that your only credible option is to make clear that this is a resigning matter should your views be ignored in cabinet,” he added.
The National Farmer’s Union (NFU) has said it is trying to find out more, but was disappointed to have heard of the government’s “wholly irresponsible” proposals from “sources other than the government themselves”.
The union’s president Minette Batters said: “There remains a huge amount of unanswered questions about exactly how decisions regarding trade policy have been made, on what basis and how it will operate in the future.
“It is also incredibly concerning that the government is in a ‘sprint’ to sign up to a trade deal with Australia that would have serious implications for British farming and would seemingly offer incredibly little benefit to the economy.
“We continue to maintain that a tariff-free trade deal with Australia will jeopardise our own farming industry and could cause the demise of many, many beef and sheep farms throughout the UK. This is true whether tariffs are dropped immediately or in 15 years’ time.”
Ministers reportedly want to sign an agreement by the time the G7 summit is held in Cornwall on 11 June.
Meanwhile the Country Land and Business Association – which represents some 28,000 land managers and rural businesses – argued the government should be unrelenting in breaking down barriers to growing UK export opportunities for British food producers, its president Mark Bridgeman said it was “perfectly normal for certain protections to be in place for key industries”.
“Even the most liberal free-trading nations place some restrictions on imports, and to do otherwise would make us a global outlier – making us appear a touch naive in the process,” Mr Bridgeman was quoted as saying by Farming UK on Saturday.
“Zero tariffs and zero quotas on agricultural imports would not just leave British farmers exposed, it shows that the UK government doesn’t understand one of our biggest strengths,” he said. “The UK has some of the highest environmental and animal welfare standards in the world.”
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Amid this heightened concern, Ms Truss spoke to The Sun on Sunday, insisting that “British farmers have absolutely nothing to fear from this deal at all”.
“In fact, we’ve got an awful lot to gain, particularly from the wider opportunities in the Asia-Pacific area,” the international trade secretary said, referencing the Australia deal as a first step towards joining the wider Trans-Pacific Partnership.
“That’s where demand for beef and lamb is expected to rise significantly over the next 10 years and we are gaining more access to those markets. This is where the big opportunities lie. I’m absolutely confident the deal we strike will enable our farmers to compete successfully.”
In a statement, a DIT spokesperson said: “We keep farmers and senior figures from across industry closely involved throughout all trade negotiations.
“The trade secretary talked with the NFU this week, and ministers also met with farming representative organisations, including NFU Scotland, to discuss the Australia free trade agreement.
“An Australia deal would open up export opportunities for our farmers and include protections for the agriculture industry, while also ensuring farmers are not undercut and the high standards we have in place are not compromised.”
