Agricultural Exports from Australia: Tariffs

Lord Hannan of Kingsclere Excerpts

Tuesday 8th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

My Lords, I am not familiar with the letter the noble Lord refers to, but I will make sure to study it after this Question. As I said earlier, we do not believe that this deal will mean a flood of cheap imports. We will use a range of tools to defend British farming. I want to emphasise the opportunities that this deal will give to British farmers in terms of their exports, whether they are large or small and whichever part of the United Kingdom they come from.

[Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)]

My Lords, we do not reduce tariffs on imported food as a favour to Australia, we do so as a favour to ourselves—which may incidentally happen to benefit some Australian exporters. Will my noble friend the Minister confirm that reducing the cost of food makes everybody better off, especially people on low incomes for whom the food bill is the highest proportion of the monthly budget? In doing so, this gives us more money to spend on other things and thereby stimulates the whole economy.

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

My Lords, as ever my noble friend encapsulates precisely the advantages of free trade agreements and I thank him for that.