UK standards in future trade deals

This week, after an almost 500 day hiatus, the Agriculture Bill returned to Parliament. I spoke in the debate and called on the Government to include a commitment in the Bill that it will not import food that does not meet the UK’s environmental, animal welfare and food safety standards – such as chlorinated chicken or hormone-pumped beef – in future trade deals. Without such a commitment, we will undercut our domestic producers, export our environmental footprint abroad and leave the public unprotected against low-quality goods that would be illegal to produce on British soil. Disappointingly, the Government brushed off the deep concerns that I and colleagues from across the House raised. Having led the charge in Parliament for many years now on the need to transition to a more sustainable food and farming system, I’m pleased to have been selected to sit on the Bill’s scrutiny committee. Over the next month, the Committee will work through the Bill line-by-line suggesting what should be improved, added and removed. If you’d like to read my speech, it is available in full here: http://bit.ly/36W2YvY

Posted by Kerry McCarthy MP on Friday, February 7, 2020