Luke Pollard MP Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport
Labour has today called for the government to back British farming in the upcoming free trade deal with Australia. In a letter to the Environment Secretary, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary Luke Pollard warned that British farmers could be undercut with food imports from Australia that are produced to lower food, farming and animal welfare standards – that British farmers would be unable to compete with.
He also criticised the government for appearing to use a loophole to pass the deal before the new Trade and Agriculture Commission is set up, so there is less close scrutiny of the deal.
Commenting, Luke Pollard MP said:
“Our country can gain so much from trade around the world, but it has to be done in the right way. This one size fits all approach the government is pursuing won’t work for our farmers.“Labour backs British farmers. But it looks like this government is doing everything they can to drive our small family farmers out of business with cheap imports from thousands of miles away. Ministers should be getting behind our farmers, not selling them out.”
You can read Luke’s letter to Environment Secretary George Eustice in full above.