Protection of UK Food Standards

Baroness Winterton of Doncaster Excerpts

Wednesday 24th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

I am sure none of us in the House, regardless of our views on the European Union, American beef or American chicken, wants to prevent our farmers in any constituency from exporting their high-quality food. However, the very consumers the hon. Member mentioned a few minutes ago fill my inbox daily, concerned about the quality of food that will be imported into this country. They are afraid that the food that will appear on supermarket shelves will be cheaper and of less good quality than what is produced in this country. We want to protect those people.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order. The hon. Gentleman has been very generous in taking interventions. Any interventions need to be short, because there is limited time for the debate and I am sure that the Minister wants sufficient time to wind up.

[John Lamont]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I hope that the hon. Member for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine) explains to her constituents that she voted for an amendment that would have restricted the choice for consumers in supermarkets and stopped Scottish farmers and other businesses exporting. She would have stopped them doing the trade deals. I will come on to those points in a bit more detail shortly.

Within the overall increase in trade to non-EU countries, there are further opportunities to be had, particularly across Asia in markets other than China, such as Taiwan, Singapore and especially Vietnam, to complement the trade we will continue to have with the European Union. Scottish farmers can lead the way on those opportunities. Lowering trade barriers is key to realising that ambition.

It is important to put ourselves in a position where we can build on our successes, but if the contentious amendments to the Agriculture Bill had passed, such trading opportunities would have been lost, to the disadvantage of Scotland’s farming sector and the wider economy. If Scottish National party Members and others who supported the amendments had secured them, that would have effectively blocked the enhanced international trade opportunities for Scottish farmers and many other distinctive Scottish industries. It is also important to note that no current trade agreements include provisions to force partners to operate by another country’s domestic regulations and standards. If we insisted on that, we could not roll over the comprehensive economic and trade agreement with Canada and other parties such as South Africa and Japan. It would also call into question our refusal to accept a level playing field with the EU if we demand it elsewhere.

Trying to force all trading partners to produce to the exact same standard as the UK will only result in fewer export opportunities for Scottish farmers and cut them off from world markets.

--- Later in debate ---

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order. Can everybody just calm down a bit? It is an Adjournment debate.

[John Lamont]

Welcome to the world of Scottish politics, Madam Deputy Speaker.

To continue, those who were advocating for those amendments were, at best, naive about the consequences of their actions or, at worst, reckless with the future of not just our food exporters, but every other business that hopes to export its produce around the world.

An isolationist approach may be one that the SNP wants to advocate, but I want Scotland and Britain to take their places as global trading partners, so we can sell our top-quality food produce to every corner of the planet. Others may want to restrict the choices available to our businesses, but I hope that SNP Members will come clean and explain that they want to restrict our ability to trade. Their isolationist, anti-trade policy is not one that I think the people of Scotland, or across Britain, want to support.

I am entirely in agreement with the desire to create a thriving domestic agricultural industry that is not undercut by cheap foreign imports, while maintaining and promoting high animal welfare, environmental and food standards abroad. But the answer is not to pass legislation that would create an extreme, blanket, protectionist approach and to slam doors in the faces of our exporters. We need a robust framework that provides support to primary producers to provide security of food supply, while expanding the global trade opportunities to get high-quality Scottish produce on to kitchen tables in as many countries around the world as possible. I believe that the Agriculture Bill provides a platform for those expanded trade opportunities, while maintaining the tough environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards that we all want to see maintained. I know that Scottish farmers have what it takes to compete with the rest of the world, and Scottish farmers can be confident that this UK Government will back them all the way in securing the markets that they need to prosper in future.