Michael Gove admits that post-Brexit trade deals were bad for farmers
Michael Gove has admitted for the first time that the Australia and New Zealand trade deals negotiated by the former Tory government did not protect Britain’s farmers.
The freedom to sign trade agreements around the world was touted as one of the great Brexit benefits.
However, when the Conservatives struck deals with Australia and New Zealand in 2021, farmers claimed they were being undercut in an agreement which had little economic benefit to the UK.
Even former Environment Secretary George Eustice said that the “UK gave away far too much for far too little in return”, and the agreements “were not a very good deal” for Britain.
At the Conservative Party Conference, Tory grandee Mr Gove, also a former Environment Secretary, finally admitted that farmers were not protected.
“I can confirm I think we negotiated poorly with Australia, and New Zealand, but particularly with Australia in defence of our farmers,” he told a Conservative Environment Network event.
“In the anxiety to secure trade deals, we did not think about the long term.
“Brexit was not principally about trade, and I think it was a mistake for people to regard Brexit’s success on the basis of the number of trade deals that we could stack up.
“Brexit is ultimately about accountability and democratic accountability overall.
“I felt that we were too anxious as a government to secure those deals in order to show that Brexit was working.”