Food and Farming: Supply Issues Debate
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Lord Jones of Cheltenham
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Food and Farming: Supply Issues
Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts(2 years, 11 months ago)
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The Deputy Speaker (Lord Ashton of Hyde) (Con)
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Jones of Cheltenham, wishes to speak virtually. I think this would be a convenient moment to hear from him.
Lord Jones of Cheltenham (LD) [V]
My Lords, how do the new trade deals with Australia and New Zealand help with the aims of maintaining Britain’s food production self-sufficiency level at 60% and creating an environment for farm and food businesses to thrive and compete in the coming years?
Lord Benyon (Con)
There is good news on a variety of different measures in trade deals, not least on the point of the noble Lord’s question. We are about to see the end of the ban on UK lamb being sold to the United States. Free trade is important; it benefits us all. We have incorporated into the two trade deals that the noble Lord talked about the absolute determination to protect our standards of animal welfare and environmental protection. That is the best protection that we can give to the high-quality produce that our farmers produce in this country.