The National Sheep Association (NSA) has said it supports the UK government’s “robust and tough stance” on trade with Canada after negotiations were suspended last week.
The decision to suspend talks on a new trade deal with Canada was due to concerns over Canadian hormone-treated beef.
NSA chief executive, Phil Stocker, said:
“NSA supports this robust and tough stance in negotiating the future trading relationship between UK and Canada – we have to learn from lessons with the New Zealand and Australia deals and must do nothing to undermine Britain’s high standards of animal welfare and food safety – two key components of an ability to undercut the price of British food on our shelves.”
The NSA said Canada has been “pushing” for the UK to relax its ban on hormone-treated beef whilst also threatening to impose import taxes of up to 245% on British cheese products.
“It is encouraging to see that in this instance where Canada was asking too much and offering too little, the government was able to make the difficult decision to walk away, protecting our own producers as a result,” Stocker said.
“The government has been clear that lowering the UK’s high standards on food safety and welfare is not an option and NSA support them in exploring trading relationships that benefit both British consumers and producers.”
‘Too big a price to pay’
Last week, the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) also welcomed the UK government’s decision to suspend talks on a new trade deal with Canada over hormone-treated beef.
CLA president Victoria Vyvyan said imports of Canadian hormone-treated beef would be “simply too big a price to pay” for the UK.
“The UK government is right to reject the Canadian demand for the UK to allow imports of hormone-treated beef – it is simply too big a price to pay,” she said.
“British farmers rear cattle to the very highest animal welfare and environmental standards.
“It would be an unfair market for British farmers if they have to compete with imported meat produced to lower and cheaper standards than would be legal here.
“Free trade deals represent an opportunity for the UK food sector, but only if our world-class standards are protected in the process.
