Thread by @euromove

🇦🇺🇬🇧The government has signed its first (from scratch) trade deal post-Brexit.
And it is every bit as damaging as warned.

It fails to protect our farmers long-term and allows imports of food produced at lower standards.

[The Australia Deal: A thread]

1
bbc.co.uk/news/business-…

The free trade agreement with Australia would allow Australian food to be imported that's been produced at lower environmental & animal welfare standards.

Whilst UK standards of food are by no means perfect they differ significantly from Australia. Here are just a few e.g.s:

2

Australia’s animal welfare standards tend to be lower than the UK. Just a couple of examples: Australia allows hormone-treated beef and ‘mulesing’ - the removal of a sheep’s skin while it is still alive. ciwf.org.uk/news/2021/06/u…
3

Australia is a “hotspot” for deforestation, mainly due to clearing forests to rear cattle on intensive mega-farms.

theguardian.com/environment/20…
4

To prevent antibiotic resistance, antibiotics used to promote growth of animals have been banned in the UK since 2006 but are still permitted in Australia.

Use of antibiotics in Australian farming is significantly higher than the UK

saveourantibiotics.org/news/press-rel…
5

We know that importing food produced at lower standards is not what the British public wants.

Our polling, released last month, showed that only 10% of Brits will put up with lower standard food.

europeanmovement.co.uk/trade-polling-…
6

And particularly relevant in the context of the result in North Shropshire last week, our polling found that Leave voters and Conservative voters are more likely to demand higher standards.

No one wants lower standard food to be imported post-Brexit.
7

And lowering our food standards for what?

The government's own estimate suggests that this trade deal is likely to add as little as 0.01 - 0.08% to the UK economy over 15 years

theguardian.com/business/2021/…
8

More worrying still our government (and other countries with even bigger markets than Australia) see this agreement as a "gateway", to allow free trade with other countries.

These countries will expect the same terms as Australia.

Hello chlorinated chicken from the US 👋🇺🇸🍗

This trade deal betrays our farmers who will be unable to compete with imported food produced at significantly lower standards.

This trade deal betrays consumers who have been crystal clear that they do not want lower standard food imported into the UK
sustainweb.org/news/dec21-uk-…
10

But we are also betraying our proud UK standards, animals & the environment. What is the point in asking our farmers to produce food to high environmental & animal welfare standards if we are simply going to export environmental damage & lower animal welfare to Australia?
11

If you are as angry as us, sign the petition and demand that the government to #SaveOurStandards
✍️👇
europeanmovement.co.uk/standards

12/ENDS