Conservatives Taken To Task on Australia & New Zealand Trade Deals

The Conservatives have come under renewed criticism for their handling of the Australian & New Zealand (NZ) trade deals and their impacts on Wales yesterday during a debate in the House of Lords.

UK Government’s Minister for International Trade, Lord Johnson of Lainston, who two weeks ago came under fire for stating that Kiwi Lamb was better for the environment than its UK counterparts, was criticised by the Liberal Democrats for the Conservatives’ handling of the trade deals.

Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats in the Lords, Baroness Christine Humphreys highlighted the risk posed to Welsh lamb farmers by the two trade deals and called for Parliament to have a final say over all future trade deals alongside guaranteed impact assessments for trade deals on the nations and regions of the UK.

Baroness Humphreys also criticised the UK Conservative Government for not considering the risk the trade deals could pose to the Welsh language in Wales’ agricultural heartlands. She also asked the Minister how he came to his assertion that eating NZ lamb is better for the environment than lamb from around the UK and if he would offer Welsh and UK lamb farmers a few words of support in recognition of the work they do to produce such high-quality produce. 

Commenting Baroness Humphreys said:

“With the Australian Trade deal itself set to provide a mere 0.08% boost to the UK economy it appears that both NZ and Australia, with economies many times smaller than ours are set to benefit. NZ, for example, will have access to a UK market of some 67 million people whereas our farmers will find NZ, with its market of some 5 million people, a much less attractive prospect.

“Both NZ and Australia will have almost unfettered access to the UK market and this places UK and Welsh farmers at significant risk, with, apparently, almost nothing gained in return. 

Our farmers are, of course, concerned about their futures and, as a recent edition of Farmers Weekly reported, this concern has resulted in a large reduction in the level of support for the Conservatives amongst UK farmers. A result reflecting, one supposes, the reality of ‘getting Brexit done’ on our farming communities and fears for the future of farming.

“Without real impact assessments for the nations and regions of the UK, we cannot truly understand the risks to our farming communities these deals contain which is why the Liberal Democrats have consistently tried to ensure these are included into legislation.

“For those of us who live in Wales, there is of course, an additional impact which won’t appear in the list contained in this amendment but is nevertheless very important to us – and that is the impact on the Welsh language.

“42% of our farmers speak Welsh as opposed to some 19% of the general population. They are the guardians of our language, our traditions and our culture. Anything that impacts on the viability of our farming communities will eventually impact on our language.”