Theresa May defends her post-Brexit aim for alignment with EU standards in livestock and agriculture
On a two day trip to a United Nations summit in New York this week Theresa May insisted that a no-deal Brexit would be better for the UK than any Canada-style free trade agreement allowed by the EU.
She argued that a Canada style deal would lead to the break up of the United Kingdom (as it would lead to different customs rules in Northern Ireland), making it a bad deal in her view. Significantly, she robustly defended her plans for post-Brexit alignment with the EU on livestock and agriculture, saying "the UK would want to maintain these anyway, and that they should not be a barrier to outside trading plans".
Kath Dalmney, CEO of Sustain said:
"Debate still rages on what sort of deal the UK should have with the European Union after Brexit, which is creating uncertainty all round. Our members are clear that they do not want to see a drop in agriculture or livestock standards after Brexit, so we welcome Theresa May's renewed commitment to remain aligned on Europe on these issues. We would add that recent polling shows over 82% of people in the UK would refuse to lower our food standards in exchange for trade, so we'll continue to lobby for these to remain aligned too."
Published Wednesday 26 September 2018
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