Farmers feel 'under threat' from international trade deal proposals

  • Video report by Ralph Blunsom

Farmers in Cumbria and the south of Scotland have raised concerns over plans for a trade deal with Australia that would make its food and farming imports cheaper.

The government says a deal would allow UK farmers even greater access to overseas markets.

However, livestock farmers in the region say they cannot compete equally with industrialised Australian farms which can produce red meat much cheaper.

MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, Tim Farron said that welfare standards for livestock in Australia are much lower, due to the scale of their farms. He says he fears British farms won't be able to compete.

Andrew Morgan, a sheep farmer in the Scottish Borders told us, "Is it a good idea to bring lamb half way around the world in a container chilled? Is that carbon neutral? I would very much doubt it. I think in the end we're going to get a deal of some sort that's what's going to happen. You've go to be realistic, we can't say no, what we'd like is a level playing field."

Thomas Carrick, a sheep farmer at Carrigill near Alston said, "It means a reduction in your profitability to put it perfectly simply, and if we feel it every other sheep farmer in the country will feel it as well. If we are to be expected to trade freely with other nations that don't have the same level of cost of production that we have then there must be a tariff."

At the Carlisle cattle auction, managers say over time these trade deals could change the industry fundamentally. Scott Donaldson, managing director of H&H auctioneers told ITV Border, "Australian beef and sheep products that come into this country only makes up point one of a percent of everything we import so that's a very small tonnage but it's the thin end of the wedge, you know if that opens up what's next?"

Farmers are warning that our region's livestock industry could be under threat as a result of a planned international trade agreement. Credit: PA

In Westminster today

Downing Street today said Boris Johnson wants to "maximise" the benefits of trade deals as he intervened in the Cabinet row over the planned agreement with Australia.

The Prime Minister chaired a meeting of senior colleagues as negotiations with Australia about the terms of a deal continued.

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss and Environment Secretary George Eustice are thought to be at odds over the proposals and the impact they might have on British farmers.

Ms Truss, who has said she wants an agreement in principle by early June, is thought to favour a zero tariff, zero quota approach in order to boost the flow of trade.

Mr Eustice has suggested that quotas could be used to protect them.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "There are a regular series of meetings on not just this trade deal but the deals we have been working on throughout.

"The Prime Minister met with the ministers involved, like Liz Truss obviously, as part of the regular process."

Mr Johnson "wants to maximise the massive opportunities presented by post-Brexit trade deals", the spokesman said.

Downing Street insisted farmers would be protected in any deal with Australia.

"Any agreement would include protections for our agriculture industry and won't undercut UK farmers," the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.

"We want a deal that is good for the British public and any agreement would have protection for the agriculture industry."

But the spokesman refused to be drawn on what the measures to protect farmers would be, insisting he would not comment on the ongoing negotiations.

The proposed deal has been criticised on environmental grounds because of the prospect of Australian beef being shipped around the world.

Patrick Holden, chief executive of the Sustainable Food Trust, said: "Our cattle come from a mainly grass-fed nation and we have one of the best carbon footprints for beef production in the world.

"In contrast, imported Australian beef will likely be produced on feedlots, fed on grain and full of antibiotics and growth-promoting hormones."

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "We have significant commitments that we are delivering on climate change.

"Obviously we would want to take all those things into consideration when looking at any sort of deal."

RSPCA chief executive Chris Sherwood said: "We're really concerned about reports that the Government is getting close to a trade deal with Australia which could see zero tariffs on goods produced to lower animal welfare standards, failing to protect our own welfare standards and the livelihoods of British farmers."

He said the Government should keep its commitment to set up a trade and agriculture commission to scrutinise deals.

Shadow international trade secretary Emily Thornberry told Times Radio: "I think we should do a trade deal with Australia and I think there's huge potential in it, but what we should be doing is thinking about what it is that we need from trade, what we want to get from it, what our offensive-asks are, and how we need to defend ourselves.

"Frankly, we in this country have high food production standards.

"We have good animal welfare standards, and we don't want that undermined by cheap imports from countries that don't have the same standards as we do."