Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the legality of (a) barren battery cages, (b) sow stalls, (c) hormone-fed beef, (d) hot branding and (e) mulesing in Australia on (i) food and (ii) farming standards in the UK.

The Department for International Trade has always been clear that this deal will not compromise the UK’s high standards. Imports will still have to meet the same UK food safety and biosecurity import standards as they did before.

This deal will also not unfairly undercut UK farmers. The Government has agreed a ground-breaking non-regression clause on animal welfare, which means that neither country can lower their animal welfare standards to undercut the other. The Government has also agreed a general safeguard mechanism which will provide a safety net for industry if they face serious injury from increased imports as a direct consequence of the Free Trade Agreement.