House of Commons
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee
Cross-party MPs raise growing concerns that the Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC) has been ignored in the Government's negotiation of post-Brexit trade deals. In a new letter to the International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss, the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee express disappointment that the Government has yet to respond to recommendations made by the independent body, which was set up to protect the interests of British farmers, producers and consumers.
With the announcement of a new UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) , the letter expresses 'surprise' at the Trade Secretary’s claim that the TAC was not intended to influence the negotiation of FTAs, and instead merely 'advise on future strategy'. The TAC's creation had provided the British farming sector with reassurance that the Government would engage with farmers’ and food producers’ concerns about the potential weakening of the UK’s environmental and animal welfare standards when negotiating trade deals.
The EFRA Committee now urge the Government to respond to the TAC's key recommendations without delay, and to appoint a Chair and members of the new statutory TAC that will scrutinise FTAs before the Parliamentary summer recess at the latest.
Chair of the EFRA Committee, Neil Parish MP, said:
“It seems nonsensical that the Government has jumped the gun and finalised the new UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement without first demonstrating that it has taken on board the thorough and well-researched conclusions of the Trade and Agriculture Commission's report. The Trade Secretary has stated that the TAC was established to 'advise on future strategy', yet the Government has pushed ahead with striking new trade deals that have major implications for the future of farming in this country, while the TAC’s report risks being left to gather dust.
"If Ministers cannot commit to publishing a written response to the Commission’s report before the summer recess, I shall invite them to provide oral evidence on the Commission's recommendations. British farmers and producers had hoped that TAC's establishment would ensure that they were considered and listened to - to let them down now would make a mockery of the commitments made when the TAC was created."
Dr Neil Hudson MP for Penrith and The Border and member of the EFRA Committee said:
“We can get a good deal with Australia but it has to be right for both partners and must not be to the detriment of British farmers and producers. Our cross-party EFRA Committee is calling for meaningful parliamentary scrutiny of these deals and for the Trade and Agriculture Commission to be constituted as soon as possible in order to be able to scrutinise the deals and advise Government accordingly. It is paramount that we uphold our high animal welfare and food production standards in these negotiations and as such important safeguards need to be factored into these deals.”
A full list of Committee membership can be found here.
