CORNWALL’S MPs have been accused of betraying farmers and breaking promises after the landmark Agriculture Bill was passed without a clause which would enshrine the protection of Britain’s food production standards in law.
The chairman of Cornwall’s NFU has warned of a ‘race to the bottom’ should Britain’s world-leading welfare and environmental standards not be guaranteed ahead of post-Brexit trade deals.
Mr Mann said that he felt support for the amendment ‘would have been misguided as it would weaken our bargaining position with both the EU and the United States’.
‘If we offer our current high standards from the outset, the EU could ask for more concessions and more regulations,’ he said.
‘If we go into negotiations with in-built flexibility, we can negotiate ourselves up to the high standards we currently enjoy without risking having to make further trade-offs.’
But farming organisations are now concerned that, while the Government has insisted that chlorinated chicken and antibiotic-pumped beef will never enter this country, the absence of cast-iron legal protections will mean that import standards can be ‘negotiated downwards’ during talks on trade deals.
Chairman of the National Farmers Union (NFU) in Cornwall Jon Perry said: ‘We in Britain produce to a very high standard – we are in the top three in the world.
‘We’ve got a very high welfare and environmental policy which does cost the farmers. We’re desperately worried that after leaving the EU, America and other countries will be able to undercut the British farmers, and undermine all the good work that they’re doing.’
The NFU and its members had worked very hard with their Cornish MPs on the issue of protecting British standards ahead of the Agriculture Bill being debated, said Mr Perry.
‘I’m very, very disappointed, given the amount of representation they’ve had from the Cornish agricultural community, with what they’ve done. I know Cornish farmers are feeling betrayed. The farmers feel it’s a slippery slope if we give the Government carte blanche to import food without the guarantee of equivalent standards. There are lots of examples of products – toys, cars – which we won’t accept unless they fulfil certain standards, and we’re disappointed that food isn’t included in that.’
Mr Perry added: ‘It’s political – there is pressure on the politicians, and the people at the top of Government are keeping a very tight control and driving through what they want to drive through at any cost. Some MPs have been brave enough to stand up against it.’
The NFU in Cornwall will now look to support in the House of Lords, where the Agriculture Bill is currently being scrutinised, said Mr Perry, and the organisation would be working hard on seeing import standards upheld in the Trade Bill.
James Morgan, of Luckett, who is co-founder of the Brimful Drinks consultancy, said that people were feeling ‘misled’ by MP Scott Mann, whom he said had pledged to stand up for farmers and consumers. ‘In supporting this bill he has broken promises. I cannot understand why any MP would think this is a good piece of legislation, let alone one whose constituency is so thoroughly agrarian.’
South East Cornwall’s MP Sheryll Murray said that, having listened to the debate on the Agriculture Bill, she had felt she could not support the amendment which would have inserted a clause on standards.
Mrs Murray said that during the debate, Defra Minister Victoria Prentis had explained how such a clause could have ‘unintended consequences for producers and exporters’. It could threaten exports such as whiskey and potatoes, she said, by risking the refusal of other countries with which the UK currently trades to enter into continuity agreements. A petition launched by the NFU demanding all food imports are produced to the same standards as those seen in the UK has reached 170,000 signatures.