British government ministers have repeated assurances that they will uphold environmental, animal welfare and food safety standards once fully outside the EU.

In a letter jointly signed by Trade secretary Liz Truss and Defra secretary George Eustice, sent to all Westminster MPs, the two ministers said that the UK will not lower standards when negotiating new free trade deals.

Specifically, the letter makes reference to food safety law, and the fact that all existing EU legislation has been transferred on to the UK statute book. It means that products such as hormone-treated beef or chlorine washed chicken remain banned. “Any changes to existing food safety legislation would require new legislation to be brought before this Parliament,” states the letter.

However, the assurances fall short of those requested by farming leaders, environmentalists and animal welfare groups, who want it written into legislation that imports must meet the same requirements imposed on UK farmers.

While the UK might currently ban the likes of chlorine-washed chicken, the key issue for these groups is why the chicken needs to be washed in the first place (due to lower production standards in the US). Food safety legislation on its own will not stop farmers being undermined by cheap food imports.

Reports suggest that Cabinet ministers are split on the issue of standards, with some favouring opening up the UK market as part of new trade deals. Others have suggested a tiered tariff system, with higher rates of duty applying on the likes of hormone-treated beef and chlorine-washed chicken.

NFU petition

Meanwhile, a petition organised by the National Farmers Union (NFU), which calls on government to ensure that imports meet the same standards expected of UK farmers, had reached nearly 1m signatures by the middle of this week.

Speaking at an online cereals event on Wednesday, NFU president Minette Batters again raised the issue of standards.

Arable

She pointed out that arable farmers in the UK are already being disadvantaged by imports.

UK grain imports have doubled in the past 10 years, but there is a lack of information about their production standard and UK growers face tightening restrictions on crop protection products said Batters.

She used the example of oilseed rape, which she suggested has effectively become a “niche crop” in the UK after being “massively undermined” by imports.

“We have to be able to make sure that if we are going to keep this high cost regulatory framework, those imports into this country are produced to those same standards,” she maintained.

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