This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46743164
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 3 | Version 4 |
---|---|
Farmers warned of Brexit no-deal 'turbulence' | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Farmers and food producers face "considerable turbulence" if the UK leaves the EU with no deal, Environment Secretary Michael Gove has said. | |
He told the Oxford Farming Conference it was a "grim and inescapable fact" there would be tariffs on exports and new sanitary and other border checks. | |
While "not perfect", he said Theresa May's Brexit deal would protect market access and provide economic certainty. | |
The National Farmers Union called for a new law to protect food standards. | |
And environmental campaigners said Mr Gove should set up an independent regulator to ensure that minimum standards to protect water, soil, wildlife and animal welfare are maintained. | |
The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on 29 March, with MPs due to vote in the Commons in mid-January on the prime minister's withdrawal bill. | The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on 29 March, with MPs due to vote in the Commons in mid-January on the prime minister's withdrawal bill. |
Urging MPs to support the PM's deal, Mr Gove said it would ensure the UK left the Common Agricultural Policy but, at the same time, provide a smooth transition period for agriculture and guarantee continuous tariff-free and quota-free access to EU markets. | |
From 2021, he said, the UK would be able to "largely diverge from EU regulation", enabling it to pursue its land management priorities and invest in technology which the EU has "turned its back on". | |
"All of these are real gains that our departure from the EU can bring, but these real gains risk being undermined if we leave the EU without a deal," he said. | |
Mr Gove, a leading figure in the 2016 Leave campaign, rejected suggestions that warnings about the economic impact of a no-deal exit were being over-stated and another example of "Project Fear". | |
"No-one can be blithe or blase about the real impact on food producers in this country of leaving without a deal," he said. | |
It was a "grim and inescapable fact", he said, that beef and lamb exports could face export tariffs of at least 40% if the UK defaulted to World Trade Organization rules, while standard tariffs of 11% could be levied on a host of agricultural products. | |
"The combination of significant tariffs, where none exist now, friction and checks at the border, where none exist now, and the requirements to re-route or pay more for transport when current arrangements are frictionless, will all add to costs for producers," he said. | |
The government has guaranteed to pay subsidies to farmers at current EU levels until 2022. | The government has guaranteed to pay subsidies to farmers at current EU levels until 2022. |
After that there will be a "transitional period" in England, with an increasing link between funds and maintaining "public goods", such as access to the countryside and planting meadows. | After that there will be a "transitional period" in England, with an increasing link between funds and maintaining "public goods", such as access to the countryside and planting meadows. |
Mr Gove said these commitments offered farmers greater certainty than their EU competitors. | |
But former minister Guto Bebb, who backs another Brexit referendum, said the proposed deal would leave "all the big questions unanswered". | |
"There is no kind of fantasy Brexit deal that can meet all the promises made to farmers or the rural economy," he said. | |
Mr Gove has insisted maintaining environmental and animal welfare standards is a critical element in farming sustainability and the UK "must not barter them away in a short-term trade off". | |
Food standards | Food standards |
The National Farmers Union is calling for "more than warm words" on the issue, with specific legislation to ensure the same standards are applied to imported food as home-grown produce. | |
"We have always said a no-deal would be catastrophic for our industry," the NFU's president Minette Batters said. | |
"We absolutely need an orderly departure from the EU and that's primarily because a lot of our input, 90% of our animal medicines and vaccines, chemicals and fertilisers, are produced in the EU. | |
"We don't make those kind of things in the UK any more." | "We don't make those kind of things in the UK any more." |
The Nature Friendly Farming Network is warning that long-term food security will be at risk unless "ambitious" guidelines for the industry are set out in the Agriculture Bill, which outlines the policy for the industry after Brexit. | The Nature Friendly Farming Network is warning that long-term food security will be at risk unless "ambitious" guidelines for the industry are set out in the Agriculture Bill, which outlines the policy for the industry after Brexit. |
"We can only guarantee long-term food security by protecting and managing the natural assets which enable food production," said its chairman Martin Lines. | |
"If the government does not amend the Bill to include minimum standards - and put a stop to the environmental degradation caused by intensive farming - British farmers will be in danger of losing their livelihoods." | "If the government does not amend the Bill to include minimum standards - and put a stop to the environmental degradation caused by intensive farming - British farmers will be in danger of losing their livelihoods." |