Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Food Production Standards: Trade Deals

Thursday 15 October 2020 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Government has retained existing high standards of environmental protection, animal welfare, and food production in law.
  • The Government asserts it has the necessary powers to deliver manifesto commitments without additional legislation.
  • The Government plans to use tariff policy to prevent undermining of British farmers by lower international standards.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Virendra Sharma Lab
Brexit Business & Trade Agriculture & Rural Affairs
Context

The question follows the government's ongoing negotiations and commitments to maintaining high environmental protection, animal welfare, and food standards. It centres on how these standards will be upheld in international trade agreements.

Question

What steps he is taking with the Secretary of State for International Trade to maintain British food production standards in future trade deals.

Answer from George Eustice

Our manifesto was clear that, in all our trade negotiations, we will not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards. We have retained in law our existing standards of protection, and we have laid before the House our negotiating objectives, stating that we will uphold them.

Answered
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Q2 Virendra Sharma Lab
Brexit Agriculture & Rural Affairs
Context

The question arises from the government's previous decision to reject a proposal by their own Back Benchers for stronger protection of British food production standards. This aligns with manifesto promises made in December.

Question

I thank the Secretary of State for his response, but in that case, why did the Government reject the pleas of their own Back Benchers only two days ago to protect our food standards, in line with the manifesto promises they made in December?

Answer from George Eustice

The answer is simple: we have all the powers that we need in law to deliver our manifesto commitment already. As I said earlier, we will use a range of tools, including tariff policy, to prevent our farmers from being undermined by lower standards of animal welfare in other countries, and the sanitary and phytosanitary chapter of trade agreements. We do not need new powers to be able to deliver on our manifesto commitment.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific rejection of Back Benchers' pleas is not addressed directly; instead, emphasis is placed on the existing legal framework and tools for maintaining standards.

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