Greens: No deal Brexit will be “catastrophic” for British agriculture

Reacting to Dominic Raab’s statement that a no-deal Brexit wouldn’t trigger a battle with Brussels, Molly Scott Cato MEP, the Green Party's Spokesperson on Brexit and a member of the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee said:

“It is deeply worrying that leaving the EU without a deal is being discussed as a plausible outcome. Let’s be absolutely clear, there is no conceivable way that a no-deal Brexit can be acceptable. End of story. It ultimately doesn’t matter if there is a battle with Brussels or not. If we leave with no deal, the damage will have been done. 

“The effect it would have on Britain’s agriculture would be catastrophic. If farmers can’t export to the continent, it will still severely threaten their incomes. Even if short term measures are implemented, they will not address the immediate problem of deciding what to plant next spring.

“If there’s even the slightest threat of no deal, the Government must do the responsible thing and put the final deal to a People’s Vote. Nobody voted to crash out of Europe and we can’t risk people’s livelihoods just to appease the extreme fringes of the Conservative Party.”