Australia insists free trade deal will not hurt British farmers 

Australian High Commissioner George Brandis tells Tory MPs that claims UK farmers could be put out of business are “beyond absurd”

Australia has come out swinging against warnings a free trade agreement with the UK could push British farmers out of business, describing the claims as “beyond absurd”.

In a strongly worded letter sent to Tory MPs, the Australian High Commissioner, George Brandis, criticised “wild claims” that a deal could lead to beef and lamb from Down Under flooding the UK market.

He said it would send a “catastrophic signal” if Britain “pulls up the drawbridge” – warning that doing so could scuttle efforts to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, a bloc of fast-growing Pacific nations.

Membership of the partnership is regarded as a key post-Brexit prize. Scott Morrison, the Australian Prime Minister, is expected to sign the highly anticipated free trade deal when he comes to the UK for the G7 Summit next month.

However, plans have been thrown into disarray after the terms of the deal prompted a row at the heart of Government, with Boris Johnson and trade secretary Liz Truss pitted against environment secretary George Eustice and his predecessor Michael Gove.

Critics say a deal that offers tariff and quote-free access to UK markets for Australian exports of beef, lamb and sugar could be devastating for British producers.

Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union, said on Tuesday that such an arrangement would be a “complete betrayal” of farmers and could result in environmental damage in the UK.

Mr Brandis called several of the claims “factually wrong”, accusing opponents of the agreement of running a “scare campaign”.

He wrote: “Some of those claims are beyond absurd – for instance, the claim made in a Sunday newspaper that if the UK signs an ambitious free trade agreement with Australia, ‘our green and pleasant land would become like the Australian outback’.”

Mr Brandis added there was “no possibility” that an agreement could lead to markets being flooded, saying Australia’s production was already at “full capacity”, with the overwhelming majority of exports going to Pacific rim nations.

“There is no significant excess in capacity because, to put it very simply, almost all of Australia’s exportable beef and lamb is already spoken for,” he wrote.

The Government has been contacted for comment.

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