Defra Secretary Michael Gove came under renewed pressure during the Oxford Farming Conference to put his assurances over post-Brexit food standards in writing.
He and Farming Minister George Eustice have repeatedly insisted that they will defend animal welfare and production standards, even though leading figures in the United States have said that such standards would have to be dropped to secure a trans-Atlantic trade deal after the UK leaves the European Union.
Michael Gove repeated his assurances on standards during an appearance at the Oxford Farming Conference, but he has so far refused to enshrine such assurances in the Agriculture Bill that is currently going through Parliament or in other legislation.
His reluctance to legislate has aroused suspicion amongst farmers. Mark Williams, chief executive of the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) has said research shows that only EU tariffs currently protect British egg products from lower priced and lower welfare equivalents from countries like the US, India, Argentina and Ukraine.
Mr Williams, who says that 16 per cent of the cost of producing a dozen or a kilo of eggs in the European Union comes from EU legislation on food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection, has warned that pursuing a free trade policy with such countries would result in British farmers being significantly undercut.
During the Oxford Farming Conference, NFU president Minette Batters once again demanded that Government assurances should be put in writing.
“When I talk about standards being enshrined in law, I mean it. We should be a global leader. Michael Gove has used a series of warm words, which I really appreciate. But I want to see this in writing. If you believe it, write it,” she said.
Standards
During her conference speech she said that 2018 had been a year of 'warm words'. She said she now wanted to see leadership and action.
She said there had been a lot of talk about chlorinated chicken from the United States, but the argument was not about chlorinated chicken, it was about standards.
“It's about making sure that the standards across the rest of the world - the food that comes onto our market place - are the same as British farmers produce to here.”
She said: “The biggest threat to us is that we decide to import cheap raw ingredients and add value to them under the Union Jack. I will fight that to the death.”
During his main speech to conference, Michael Gove, again sought to assure his audience that the Government would protect UK farming standards.
“If we are to maintain our own resilience and reputation for quality, that means we must maintain our own high environmental and animal welfare standards and not barter them away in pursuit of a necessarily short term trade-off,” he said.
'Backward leap'
But in the absence of a commitment to put his assurances in writing, conference delegates continued to press the issue.
The Secretary of State said he understood the concerns. “Going right back to discussions over TTIP, which preceded our decision to leave the European Union, one of the concerns that was raised then was the concerns specifically with regards to the United States of America that TTIP would mean we would have to lower some of our own standards and protections.
“The two particular - though proxies for wider concerns - the two particular foods which were in headlines were chlorine washed chicken and hormone enhanced beef.
“I have been clear, though I know there is more that must be done, that we don't intend to lower our standards. We don't intend to take a backward leap through uncertainty for the consumer and it would also undermine the strength of our own domestic production and also the reputation it enjoys.”
Gove added: “There are different ways we can provide the reassurance and the guarantees and the security that Minette and others rightly ask for and we will be coming forward with more proposals about how we might do that.
“I think there is a broader issue as well. This is going to be an ongoing debate. We need to consider both how we look at labelling and how we look at other protections to ensure that the consumer has guarantees that we won't have material entering the food chain which is inappropriate, low standard and potentially unhealthy, but also how we can, in an increasingly discerning consumer market, feel greater confidence about what they buy and the provenance and quality of what they eat.
“I certainly think that this is something we should do in partnership with food producers across the United Kingdom and with other interested parties,” he said.
'Taking back control'
Gove was pressed again by journalists during a post-speech press conference. He said that Parliament would be able to prevent standards being lowered to secure future trade deals.
“Taking back control doesn't just mean Government taking back control, it means Parliament taking back control. So, for example, when we do trade agreements in the future they have to be ratified in Parliament so there is a Parliamentary lock as well as a set of Government principles that will govern any trade relations,” he said.
One journalist pointed out that the US had said that a trade deal would not be possible unless the UK accepted US standards.
“Is the reason you are not producing legislation despite your warm words that you know that if you did you couldn't secure a deal with the US?” he was asked. “No, not at all,” replied the Secretary of State.
He said a leading member of the US Congress had suggested that any deal between the UK and US was likely to start with services.
“I think the ambition that some have for the sort of trade deal that would have produced an inevitable lowering of our standards is not what we can allow or indulge.
“So, of course, you can have a trade deal with the United States that won't necessarily cover every sector in the way that every interest in the United States would want.
“But I think it's important that we uphold and maintain our own standards and also, because there is a Parliamentary lock, I think it is vanishingly unlikely that any House of Commons would agree to lower the sorts of protections that I am committed to upholding,” he said.
Agriculture Bill
The conference also heard from Labour's Shadow Defra Secretary David Drew. He said he believed that a commitment to upholding farming standards should be written into the Agriculture Bill.
“We believe, and this is one of the arguments we have had during the passage of the Bill, that we have got to bottom some of this out in legislative terms.
“You can argue how much, but unless we put those assurances of standards up front - and this is why I am still optimistic that the Government will back Neil Parish's amendment on animal welfare and environmental protection standards - that needs to be in this Bill.
“If it's not then it's always subject to a future Government diluting those standards. So let's put it on the face of the Bill so we can all agree on that,” he said.
Neil Parish, the chairman of the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee, called for legislation to ensure that food imports have to meet the same standards as those produced in this country.
