The House of Lords Library has produced a briefing paper on the
Lords stages of the Agriculture Bill, which began on 18 May 2020
with first reading.
The Agriculture Bill establishes a legislative framework by
which the Secretary of State would be able to create a new
system for supporting the farming industry following the UK’s
departure from the EU. The bill sets out a list of activities
which might be supported financially by the Secretary of State,
such as environmental protection, public access to the
countryside and the preservation of the health and welfare of
livestock and plants. The bill also includes provisions
concerning reform of the agricultural market in the UK which
are intended to: increase food security in the UK; improve
transparency and fairness in the agri-food supply chain;
increase protection for agricultural producers selling to
business purchasers; and protect market standards.
A similar Agriculture Bill was introduced during the 2017–19
session. Commenting on that version of the bill, both the House
of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and
the House of Lords Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform
Committee raised concerns about the use of delegated powers in
the bill, arguing the Government had not provided enough
information about how the system would work in practice. The
House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
also raised concerns regarding whether there were adequate
protections in the bill to ensure that cheap goods imported
into the UK did not undercut existing UK food production
standards.
During report stage on the current bill on 13 May 2020, the
Opposition and the chair of the Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs Committee, , and other MPs argued the
bill needed to include a ban on the import of food products to
the UK that did not meet UK standards. The Government opposed
these amendments, arguing the Agriculture Bill was a domestic
bill rather than a trade bill. The Government also argued it
had made a manifesto commitment not to compromise the UK’s
environmental protection, animal welfare or food standards as
part of any future trade deal.
An amendment to introduce a ban on food imports to the UK that
did not meet UK standards was defeated in a division by 328
votes to 277. This division was conducted using a new procedure
for remote electronic voting, introduced in response to the
Covid-19 outbreak.
On 10 June 2020, the second reading of the Agriculture Bill is
scheduled to take place in the House of Lords.
