Trade Negotiations

John Lamont Excerpts

Thursday 8th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Alexander]

We have not compromised our animal welfare standards in any aspect of what we have agreed on behalf of the United Kingdom today.

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for dragging the Minister to the House tonight to explain the terms of the deal. After hammering farms with the family farm tax, it now looks like Labour is selling our farmers down the river, allowing cheap, low-quality imports from the United States. President Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture has said:

“This deal puts our great American Agricultural Producers FIRST!”

Is she wrong?

[Mr Alexander]

It is hardly a surprise that a member of the Trump Administration should talk about America first. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the north star by which we have negotiated is the UK’s national interest. Today’s agreement reflects the quiet but determined diplomacy of a serious Prime Minister to deliver a deal. The hon. Gentleman’s party does not have a great track record on serious Prime Ministers, or on beef quotas. To put today’s announcement in context, the hon. Gentleman’s Government agreed to a UK-Australia FTA with a beef tariff rate quota of 35,000 tonnes per year. That might be a point that he wants to make to farmers in the Borders.