, Labour’s Shadow International Trade
Secretary, responding to reports in the Financial Times
of a Cabinet split over the impact of a proposed UK-Australia
trade deal on the British farming industry, said:
"If cannot
negotiate a trade deal with Australia on the terms she herself
proposed last year, the fault lies squarely at her door. So
instead of blaming her Cabinet colleagues or the National Farmers
Union for these difficulties, she should get on with her job, and
deliver the deal that she promised.
"It's perfectly normal that the Australian government should try
to get the best possible deal for its agricultural
mega-corporations. But British family farmers have a right to
expect that will do the
same for them, not sell out their livelihoods for the price of a
quick trade deal, and a cheap headline at the G7 summit."
Ends
Notes to Editors
- UK Government split over Australia trade deal, 18/05/21:
https://www.ft.com/content/8c5f7a0c-6be8-42be-b2de-fe721dc08701
- The Department for International Trade's negotiating
objectives - set out in 'UK-Australia free trade agreement: the
UK's strategic approach' - updated 17/07/20, stated as one of
their central goals to: ‘secure broad liberalisation of tariffs
on a mutually beneficial basis, taking into account UK product
sensitivities, in particular for UK agriculture.’ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uks-approach-to-negotiating-a-free-trade-agreement-with-australia/uk-australia-free-trade-agreement-the-uks-strategic-approach
- In the same document, the DIT also forecast that "under an
FTA where agriculture was extensively liberalised the following
mechanisms could come into play. In the long run, Australian
producers may be able to supply domestic retailers and downstream
producers at lower cost than domestic producers. [In that
scenario]..., the agriculture and semi-processed food sectors
both see a fall in output and employment relative to the
baseline."
