Lord Harlech
Main Page: Lord Harlech (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Lord Harlech (Con)
My Lords, I draw your Lordships’ attention to my interests as set out in the register. In general, I support closer ties with Australia and New Zealand, as well as the wider Commonwealth. There are many sectors where a free trade agreement will benefit British businesses. I commend the Government for their bold regenerative agriculture aims, encapsulated by the new environmental land management schemes. However, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Lilley, that this free trade deal comes at a time when British farmers are already facing immense challenges following Brexit and are about to embark on the biggest changes in agricultural practice and funding for decades.
The Government’s own impact assessment showed that, although the deal will be of marginal benefit to the UK economy overall, agri-food sectors will be significantly worse off over the same period. Gross value added in agriculture and semi-processed foods will decrease by approximately £94 million and £225 million respectively, compared to 2019 levels. The amount of beef and lamb allowed into the UK in the first year of the agreement is 60 times larger than the volumes currently imported from Australia, so the so-called protective tariffs will not kick in until it is too late. To swamp domestic markets with cheap imports at such a pivotal moment for our farmers is, I fear, reckless. As we saw with fishing, farming is more than just cold, hard, economics. It means landscape, community and livelihoods. Do we really want to risk putting small family farms out of business for such miniscule potential GDP growth?
British produce has the highest environmental and welfare standards in the world, something we should be incredibly proud of. At a time when consumers want sustainable produce with as few miles as possible between farm and fork, should we really be importing inferior products from the other side of the world when there is such a colossal economic risk to our own farmers? I urge the Government to look again at the agricultural clauses within the deal and do what is necessary to back British farmers.