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On Friday, the UK will offer Australia a duty-free trade deal after Boris Johnson insisted it should go ahead despite warnings it could severely hurt British farmers.
Downing Street declined to comment on the details, but has not denied any reports to The sun that tariffs would be removed after 15 years to give British farmers time to prepare for new competition in areas such as beef and lamb.
This result represents a victory for free traders in the cabinet, led by International Trade Secretary Liz Truss, who insisted that Britain should offer Australia a deal similar to the zero tariff and zero quota agreement that achieved with the EU after Brexit.
Truss will discuss the proposal on Friday with Dan Tehan, his Australian counterpart, who had insisted that any trade deal with the UK should include full tariff liberalization, including agriculture.
George Eustice, UK Secretary of the Environment, had argued that zero tariffs should only be applied to a specific quota of beef or lamb imports, so that protections could be maintained in the event of an increase in imports.
But Australia had indicated that such a restriction would not be acceptable and Johnson, at a meeting of senior cabinet ministers on Thursday, insisted that an ambitious deal should go ahead.
On Wednesday Johnson told lawmakers that British farmers were innovative and could be trusted to sell their high-quality products worldwide.
Beef and lamb farmers, especially in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, are among the most exposed to the cheapest competition in Australia, whose farms operate on a much larger scale.
Robert Buckland, secretary of justice, told the BBC Today program Friday that Britain’s animal welfare rules would not be weakened to accommodate an agreement with Canberra.
“The government has always said any free trade agreement we reach with Australia or other countries in the world … will of course take into account the very high welfare standards we apply in the UK,” he said.
“And, of course, we will make sure that British farmers are not diminished or disadvantaged given the quality and excellence of products made here in the UK.”
Neil Parish, Conservative chair of the House of Commons environment committee, said this week that UK farmers should face “a little more competition” and that they should innovate in the coming years. .
Meanwhile, farmers wishing to leave agriculture will be offered a lump sum of up to £ 100,000 next year under plans set by ministers as part of England’s move to a post-Brexit subsidy system. .
Truss and Johnson saw the Australian trade deal as a test of fire for post-Brexit British trade policy. But Eustice fears the generosity of the terms offered in Canberra could set a precedent for other agreements, including a possible future deal with the United States, which could further affect British farmers.
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