Farmers’ Union of Wales members from Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire have outlined their concerns and objections to the free trade agreement with Australia at a recent meeting with their local MP Simon Hart. The meeting was hosted jointly with NFU Cymru via Zoom.
Speaking after the meeting FUW Carmarthenshire county chairman Philip Jones said: “We made it very clear in our meeting with Simon Hart MP that trade deals lock the current and future governments into them, and as such need time and thorough scrutiny.
“Under no circumstances should they be rushed, but that is what is happening here, on top of which the UK Parliament will not be able to scrutinise and have a final say on a deal in the way other democratic nations do.”
Mr Jones said the FUW had therefore asked him to do all he can to oppose such a trade agreement and ensure detailed scrutiny takes place.
“The extreme problems we are seeing in Northern Ireland because of the protocol show what happens when politicians do not listen to stark warnings and rush things through in order to meet a self-imposed timetable, but that’s exactly what’s happening with regard to the Australia deal.
“A repeat in terms of a trade deal with Australia would be disastrous because it would be almost impossible to undo unless there is something like a break clause,” he added.
The EU’s previous agreement with Australia allowed 7,150 tonnes of beef and 19,186 tonnes of lamb to be imported into EU countries, but following Brexit the quota was split, allowing Australia to import 3,761 of beef and 13,335 tonnes of lamb into the UK.
“Claims that a liberal deal with Australia should not be feared since current import volumes are extremely low and unlikely to increase are clearly nonsense. If such arguments had any merit, then maintaining the current quota would not be controversial and would not be opposed by Australia,” added Mr Jones.
Australian politicians and industry representatives, Mr Jones told the MP, have been candid in expressing their view that the UK is a major target for the expansion of sales of red meat in particular.
“As it stands - we in Wales have no ability under existing legislation to reduce our standards to the extent that they come close to meeting the competitive advantage that Australian imports would enjoy. Doing so to any extent like that would equate to a ‘race to the bottom’ that would add to friction for our exports to our main markets in Europe,” he added