NFU and green NGOs seeks greater protection from imports

The NFU has joined forces with the RSPCA and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to demand that the government draws up a set of “core standards” for animal welfare and the environment, in an attempt to fend off substandard imports.

The three organisations point to both the Labour Party’s manifesto and its subsequent Trade Strategy, which promise to promote high standards of production and “consider whether overseas produce has an unfair advantage and any impact that may have”.

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In its Trade Strategy, the government states that, where necessary, it will “use the full range of powers at our disposal to protect our most sensitive sectors including permanent quotas, exclusions and safeguards”.

The joint NFU/RSPCA/WWF call coincided with a parliamentary reception where the organisations met MPs and peers to press the case for core standards to be in place ahead of future trade deals.

NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “British farmers are leading the way on sustainability and animal welfare, and the UK’s trade policy must reflect that progress, not undermine it.

“At a time when Defra is consulting on raising domestic animal welfare standards, it is only right that the government protects consumers from lower standard imports and ensures British farmers are not unfairly forced to compete with products that would be illegal to produce here.”

The NFU is asking the government to establish a working group, including external experts, “to identify priority core standards and consider their feasibility for implementation and audit”.

Undermining 

Angela Francis, WWF director of policy solutions, agreed that UK trade policy is undermining both the environment and farmers.

“Climate driven extreme weather is already causing price spikes and food shortages, yet our trade rules continue to reward farming practices that damage nature and undercut sustainable producers,” she said.

David Bowles, head of public affairs at the RSPCA, agreed it was essential that the government put core animal welfare standards into its policy thinking.

“While we support raising standards for laying hens and pigs in the animal welfare strategy, there is no point in doing this if we just outsource our standards to other countries,” he said.

Response

In response, a government spokesman insisted it would never compromise on the UK’s world-leading food sanitary and phytosanitary standards. “Any agricultural imports coming into the UK will have to meet those standards,” the spokesman said.

Where necessary, Defra indicated it would be prepared to use the full range of powers to protect the most sensitive sectors, including permanent quotas, exclusions and safeguards.