The UK will offer a free trade agreement in Australia despite fears from farmers

The UK will offer a tariff-free and quota-free trade deal to Australia on Friday, despite Boris Johnson stressing that it should move forward despite warning that it could seriously damage British farmers.

Downing Street declined to comment on the details, but declined to comment. Sun that tariffs would be abolished within 15 years to give British farmers time to prepare for new competition in areas such as cows and lambs.

The result represents a victory for free trade in the Cabinet, led by International Trade Secretary Liz Truss, who stressed that Britain must offer Australia a similar agreement to the zero-rate and zero-share agreement it had with the EU after Brexit.

Truss will discuss the proposal on Friday with Dan Tehan, his Australian counterpart, and stressed that any trade agreement with the UK should include full tariff liberalization, including agriculture.

George Eustice, the UK’s environmental secretary, argued that zero tariffs should only be applied to a certain share of beef or lamb imports so that protection could be maintained in the event of an increase in imports.

But Australia said the cut was unacceptable and Johnson stressed at a meeting of top cabinet ministers on Thursday that an ambitious deal needed to move forward.

On Wednesday, Johnson told lawmakers that British farmers were innovative and confident they could sell high-quality products around the world.

Cattle and lamb farmers, especially in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, are among those who suffer the cheapest competition in Australia as their farms operate on a much larger scale.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland told the BBC Today programs on Friday would not weaken Britain’s animal welfare standards to accommodate the deal with Canberra.

“The government has always said that the free trade agreement we get with Australia or other countries in the world… Will obviously take into account the very high welfare standards we apply in the UK,” he said.

“And, of course, we will make sure that British farmers are not diminished or put at a disadvantage given the quality and excellence of products made in the UK.”

Neil Parish, chairman of the House of Commons environmental committee, said this week that farmers in the UK will need to have “a little more competition” and will need to innovate in the coming years.

In the meantime, farmers who want to leave agriculture must be offered a maximum amount of € 100,000 next year to see England’s plans to convert England into a post-Brexit subsidy system in England.

The Australian trade agreement was seen by Truss and Johnson as a testament to Britain’s post-Brexit trade policy. But Eustice fears the generosity of the terms offered to Canberra may be preceded by other agreements, including a possible future deal with the US that could hit UK farmers more.