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Farm lobby organisations have welcomed an announcement from International Trade Secretary Liz Truss that the Trade and Agriculture Commission will be given new powers to examine post-Brexit trade deals.
Established in July 2020 to advise government on future trade policy, it originally had a limited lifespan of just six months. Among its 16 members are representatives from the main farming unions, including UFU president Victor Chestnutt and NFU Scotland president Andrew McCornick.
Following intensive lobbying from the agri-food industry, amid concerns that local farmers will be undercut by cheap food as part of post-Brexit trade deals, last Sunday Secretary Truss confirmed that the Commission would be put on a statutory footing.
It will be reviewed every three years, and will also continue with its current work, with a report due to be presented to the UK parliament in February 2021 setting out advice around future trading policies for government.
But beyond that, the Commission will now be tasked with producing analysis detailing the impact that each free trade deal signed by the British government from 2021 has on UK food and farming.
Each individual report will be laid in Parliament ahead of a 21-day scrutiny period under the terms of the Constitutional Reform And Governance (CRAG) Act. Essentially it means that Parliament has 21 days to consider the advice from the Commission, before a trade deal can be signed off by government.
However, while the CRAG Act potentially means MPs could delay ratification of a trade deal, it is very late in the process if they want to debate it, or vote a deal down.
As a result, it still falls short of the main farming request for an amendment to be made to the UK Agriculture Bill (the UK replacement for the CAP) that would require imports to meet the same standards expected of local farmers.
Despite that, the initial reaction from farming leaders was positive. National Farmers Union (NFU) president Minette Batters claimed that the Truss announcement would be “hugely welcomed” by farmers, while her UFU counterpart Victor Chestnutt described it as a “landmark moment in the Brexit process”.
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