Despite fears that Britain could pursue a cheap food policy post-Brexit, Defra Secretary of State Michael Gove has assured MPs at Westminster that the British Government will not compromise on animal welfare or environmental standards in pursuit of trade deals.

During an evidence session with members of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee, the Defra secretary was specifically asked about chlorine-treated chicken from the USA. If it was safe to eat, but had poor hygiene and environmental standards, would that hold up a much wider trade deal?

“Yes,” replied Gove.

He also responded with an “absolutely not” when asked if the agri-food industry might be sold out as part of a deal that favoured the City of London.

On future support payments to farmers, he said that change was coming, but farmers would be given time to adjust. However, he insisted that he did not want to emulate the subsidy-free model from New Zealand, instead allocate the current pot of money “more wisely”, to encourage productivity growth in agriculture and improve environmental goods.

“I certainly see support for people farming marginal land and who are, in the process, helping to keep iconic landscapes the way they are,” said Gove.

In terms of specific policies, he confirmed that proposals for an English agricultural policy post-Brexit will be published in the early new year, with an agricultural bill going before parliament by June 2018.

NI CAP money safe for now

How UK CAP money is allocated across devolved governments is still a topical issue in Scotland, with the SNP-led Scottish government continuing to argue for a greater share of the total UK pot.

The issue goes back to a decision taken in 2013 by the then Defra Secretary of State, Owen Paterson, to allocate an uplift in EU direct payments on the basis of historical allocations. It meant that an extra €229m coming to the UK over six years to 2020 was divided up as previously. In NI, we get 9.2% of CAP funding, so received an additional €21m as our share of the extra money.

However, the Scots continue to argue that all of the additional €229m should have gone to them, as this money came about as a result of EU ‘external convergence’. That is a process whereby member states with a per hectare payment below 90% of the EU average would close the gap to the average by one third by 2019. The UK qualified for the money because of the very low average per hectare payment in Scotland (€130/ha). Other UK regions are actually above the average, with NI at €329/ha.

However, the other devolved administrations pointed out that because Scottish farms are much larger (average 107ha), with higher payments per farm, then it would have been unfair to give them all this additional money. That position was agreed by Owen Paterson back in 2013, but he also committed to undertake a review of the decision in 2016, to be complete in 2017.

Despite pressure from the Scottish government, that review has not been forthcoming. In Westminster last week, current Defra Secretary Michael Gove was again asked about the convergence money.

“The decision having been taken in the way it was makes it difficult to unpick. One of the things that I want to do is to ensure that in the future we do right by Scottish farmers. However, it is very difficult to unscramble the omelette,” responded Gove.