Charities, NGOs, trade unions and civil organisations have sent a joint letter to the government raising serious concerns over food and animal welfare standards after the UK-Australia trade deal was finalised this week.
The letter warns that the trade agreement will mean beef and lamb imports produced to lower standards will enter the country, and the UK's position as a leader on tackling climate change will be undermined.
The organisations say that Australian food production follows 'much lower' animal welfare standards than in the UK, which means that the deal will make it easier for products which would never meet the UK production standards to be imported and sold.
This will include imported beef from cattle "raised on enormous, bare feed-lots", and lamb from sheep that have been "mulesed without anaesthetic, a mutilation that is banned in the UK".
As the UK’s procurement standards allow low welfare imports, these products could even find their way onto the menus of public sector organisations and into the meals of school children and hospital patients, the groups warn.
The RSPCA, which signed the letter, said it had 'serious concerns' over the impact this could have on animal welfare, UK farmers’ livelihoods and in tackling climate change.
The charity's chief executive, Chris Sherwood, said: "The deal provides a bad precedent for how the UK maintains its high welfare standards as it starts negotiations with other countries.
"Cheap low quality imports could also undercut farmers and, if more trade deals follow suit, devastate the UK’s farming industry.
"This is bad for consumers, farm animals and British producers, who rightly abide by the UK’s higher standards."
Whilst there are specific animal welfare provisions in the trade agreement, there are no signs that the UK government is willing to safeguard animal welfare standards in other parts of the deal.
It also has no red lines on how to ensure equivalency in animal welfare standards, unlike the New Zealand agreement which was published last month.
The joint letter warns that the agreement 'sets a dangerous precedent' as the UK seeks other deals with countries such as India, Canada and Mexico, all of whom have lower animal standards.
Mr Sherwood claimed there was a 'rush' to agree a trade deal with Australia "without looking at the consequences for UK farm standards or for future agreements with other countries".
"The UK risks having some of the highest standards in the world but no one farming to those standards," he explained.
“As our first trade agreement since leaving the EU, it is really vital the government gets it right and ensures our welfare standards are safeguarded or it could give a clear signal to other countries that the UK’s trade policy has no red lines.
“Because a high bar was not established in the Australia deal, UK trade negotiators’ hands will be tied when they try to clinch higher welfare deals with other priority countries such as the US, Canada, India and Mexico."
He added: “The UK should be proud of its animal welfare standards and strive to maintain and improve them, but there’s a danger this has been sold out for the sake of a quick trade deal.”
