One of the attractions that persuaded many farmers to vote leave in the Brexit referendum was the prospect of getting rid of EU regulations.

However, Michael Gove, the minister ultimately in charge of farming in the UK, is going to replace Brussels legislation on the issue with a made-in-Britain version. This, according to Minister Gove, will be “a new, world-leading body to give the environment a voice and hold the powerful to account, independent of government and able to speak its mind freely”.

It is somewhat ironic that it was the influence of unelected bureaucrats in Brussels that persuaded many farmers that it was better to get out of the EU. Now the Defra minister is proposing a powerful environment body that will be independent of the British government.

Brexit stalemate

Meanwhile, with stalemate in the Brexit talks, negotiations won’t be straightforward for the UK’s priority trade deal with the US.

Minister Gove has made it clear that even though the UK want a trade deal with the US post-Brexit, the UK “will not lower environment or animal welfare standards”.

This puts him at total variance with US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross who said when speaking at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference last Monday that the UK needed to “reduce unnecessary divergence in regulation and standards”.

Put bluntly, this means the UK needs to move away from the EU’s precautionary principle if it wants to do business with the US. There is quite a division in the UK government on this matter, with some members taking the position adopted by trade secretary Liam Fox who, would be quite comfortable accepting US chlorine-washed chickens.

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