Britain is facing into a "bloodbath" over a proposed trade deal with the US, an EU commissioner has warned.
EU agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan addressed an event organised by the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), where he said the UK had made it clear it intends to pursue its own international trade agenda once it leaves the European Union.
He also derided Theresa May's plan to strike agreements with countries around the world as a fanciful notion of a "new British Empire."
Mr Hogan admitted that “fault lines” were already emerging with respect to any UK-US trade agreement.
“International trade secretary Liam Fox is pushing for agriculture to be included in such discussions, claiming that Americans have been eating hormone beef and chlorine chicken perfectly safely for years, so what’s all the fuss about?” he said.
“I predict an interesting debate on this. Would British farmers and consumers accept hormone beef and chlorine chicken on their supermarket shelves? I seriously doubt it. There may yet be a bloodbath over these issues.”
'Rise to our standards'
He said that countries within the EU "can rest easy in the knowledge that our negotiating weight in trade deals means that our partners rise to our standards, rather than us lowering to theirs."
A pronouncement by Mrs May, on the day Article 50 was triggered, that Britain will strike similar deals with other countries outside the EU was also questionable, he suggested.
"This aim, based on notions of an Empire 2.0, is somewhat fanciful when you look at the trade-offs the UK would have to submit to in order to do deals around the world," he said.
Mr Hogan said he hoped June's general election would strengthen Mrs May's hand in facing down the "looney voices on the right of the Tory party" and that Britain would remain within the EU's Customs Union.
