Australia FTA safeguards needed now, says Welsh committee

The UK government has been warned that without safeguards in place now, the free trade agreement (FTA) with Australia could cause “immense and unstoppable” damage to Welsh farmers in 10-15 years.

In a report published on Wednesday (4 August), the Welsh Affairs Committee urged the UK government to outline the measures to protect farmers against imports produced to lower environmental and welfare standards.

See also: Opinion: Nothing to fear from a free-trade agreement with Australia

The report concluded that there was unlikely to be a significant impact on Welsh farmers in the short term, but warned that the long-term risks of the trade deal were unknown – and that it would be too late to act in 10-15 years time.

An agreement in principle between the UK and Australia was published on 17 June. The final text is expected by the end of this year, when it will be scrutinised before reaching parliament.

The report recommended that the draft treaty text is shared with the Welsh government, to enable ministers to complete their own assessment of the impact the deal will have on local and regional areas in Wales.

‘Enormous uncertainty’

Stephen Crabb MP, chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee, said: “Following Brexit, there is an enormous amount of uncertainty for Welsh farmers.

“We are reassured that in the short term, the UK-Australia FTA is unlikely to be damaging to Welsh farmers.

“However, it is clear that the UK and Welsh governments need to work with the sector to make sure that they can survive and thrive as part of our new trading arrangements and make the most of the opportunities that trade deals offer Welsh producers.”

Protecting standards

Farmers’ Union of Wales head of policy Dr Nick Fenwick, who gave evidence to the committee, said that in its current form the trade deal would allow the amount of Australian beef and lamb imported to the UK to increase by hundreds of thousands of tonnes, and there appeared to be no safeguards to prevent the import of food produced to standards that fall short of what is required in the UK.

“As it currently stands, the deal would open the door to the possibility of severe impacts in 10 or 15 years, and make that door almost impossible to close for a future government,” said Dr Fenwick.

“Clearly there’s nothing to worry about if nothing ‘goes wrong’, but global trade patterns and prices can change dramatically over a 10-year period, and if there are no safeguards in place the damage to our farming industry of this and other similar trade deals would be immense and unstoppable.”