A trade deal between the UK and Australia has been agreed between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his counterpart, Scott Morrison.
captionBoris Johnson and Scott Morrison agreed the broad terms of the deal over dinner on Monday
Downing Street said the new pact meant British products such as cars, Scotch whisky, biscuits and ceramics would be cheaper to sell to Australia.
However, there has been concern from UK farmers worried they may be undercut on price and standards.
The deal is the first to be built from scratch since the UK left the EU.
It is seen as an important step towards the UK joining a wider Asia Pacific free-trade agreement.
Boris Johnson said in a statement: “Our new free trade agreement opens fantastic opportunities for British businesses and consumers, as well as young people wanting the chance to work and live on the other side of the world.”
But the newly formed cross-party UK Trade and Business Commission reacted with alarm to the deal, which it says has not been properly seen nor examined by parliament.
“The prime minister has just spent the weekend arguing with our closest allies about a treaty that he pushed through parliament with limited scrutiny,” said Labour’s Hilary Benn, who chairs the commission.
“This highlights the risks of rushing through deals for short-term political gain while failing to understand the long-term consequences.”
Dominic Goudie, head of international trade at the Food and Drink Federation, welcomed the deal, but also expressed concern about the lack of detail.
“It is now vital that we know the detail of what has been agreed to help businesses understand and begin to prepare for the new terms of trade,” he said.
“The terms must also ensure that consumers have continued confidence that any agreement maintains the highest food safety and animal welfare standards.”
The UK government has signed a long list of trade deals over the past year, but they have been rollovers of those the UK already had as part of the EU.
The new deal could allow the UK to eventually join a wider Asia Pacific free-trade agreement, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which the government says could provide British farmers with huge opportunities.
Under the deal with Australia, the government says farmers will be protected by a cap on tariff-free imports for 15 years, using tariff rate quotas and other safeguards.
But some UK farmers have concerns there will be no meaningful safeguards in place to stop them being undercut by cheap imports.
Farmers in Australia are allowed to use some hormone growth promoters, pesticides, and feed additives that are banned in the UK.
The UK Trade and Business Commission is worried that Australian farming operates on a scale that UK counterparts cannot compete with, saying Australia contains eight of the 10 largest farms in the world, including one which is larger than Israel.
According to the UK’s National Farmers Union, Australian farmers are able to produce beef at a lower cost of production, and could undercut farmers in the UK.
Ministers in Scotland have also raised worries about the farming industry being overwhelmed if the market is flooded with lower standard goods.
