NFU President, Minette Batters urges the Prime Minister to back trade deal scrutiny Commission during meeting at Number 10

On Monday, the Agriculture Bill came back into the House of Commons for MPs to vote on two amendments passed by the House of Lords which would offer better scrutiny and protection for UK farmers and food standards.

One put forward by Lord Grantchester calling for “imported food products to comply with British domestic standards” and the other by Lord Curry, to retain the newly formed advisory and temporary Trade and Agriculture Commission for four years rather than the current six months and turn it into an independent body.

However the Government used an “obscure rule” to stop Lord Curry’s amendment reaching the floor of the House of Commons. It claimed the Lords overreached its powers as giving the Commission these increased powers would result in extra costs to the public purse. If a new Bill proposes spending public money that has not previously been authorised by an Act of

Parliament it must be approved by the House of Commons in a money resolution.

By refusing a money resolution, the amendment, which rebel Conservative MPs were expected to back, could not be called.

But Baroness McIntosh of Pickering, who has taken an active role in the Bill’s passage through the House of Lords, said: “The amendment will have passed the highest possible test by our very well qualified clerks to show it has not entered into any spending commitments.” The Bill will now return to the House of Lords with debate on the Commons amendments and reasons due to take place on this coming Thursday.

Baroness McIntosh said she has already raised questions around the budget of the Trade and Agriculture Commission.

But on Wednesday during a meeting at 10 Downing Street, Mrs Batters urged Boris Johnson to increase the parliamentary scrutiny of trade deals and in particular to strengthen the Trade and Agriculture Commission to allow MPs to have their say on how trade deals would impact British food and farming.

Speaking after the meeting Mrs Batters said: “I made clear that the nation cares deeply about British food and the high standards it is produced to. They do not want to see it undermined by imported food that could be produced to standards that are illegal here.

“We are at a juncture that will have ramifications for both farming and the wider public for decades to come. Already, over a million people have signed our food standards petition and tens of thousands of letters have been written to MPs on this issue.

“Those people want action to ensure our high standards of food production are not undercut. The future of British food and farming is at stake.”

Mrs Batters said she hoped the Agriculture Bill returning to the House of Lords would be an opportunity for Peers.

“I hope it will be a new opportunity to put forward an amendment that will give the Commission more teeth and enable MPs to have their say; one that can be heard by the House of Commons, with a final vote to see those safeguards put in place.”

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Thank you

James Mitchinson