'˜We do not want steroid-infested beef in the UK'

A FORMER Yorkshire MP has urged Theresa May not to allow US food produced to lower standards to flood the UK market.
Baroness McIntoshBaroness McIntosh
Baroness McIntosh

Baroness McIntosh said it was vital any future trade deal with the US was done on an equal basis for both sides.

Speaking in the Lords, she asked the Government to make clear what the future rules would be governing migrant labour after Brexit given that 20,000 agricultural jobs are filled by EU citizens.

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The former Thirsk and Malton MP said: “It breaks my heart to see that we are giving up a single market of 505 million consumers, with free movement of goods, services, capital and people, for a potential free trade agreement with a number of other countries.”

On the prospect of a transatlantic trade deal following Britain’s departure from the European Union, Baroness Pickering criticised the US’s track record on opening its markets and raised concerns about its lower food standards.

Speaking ahead of the Prime Minister’s meeting with President Donald Trump last night, she said: “I hope the Prime Minister will take this opportunity to say that we do not want hormone-produced, steroid-infested beef and chlorine-washed chicken in this country, and that we will continue to eat the very best of Yorkshire and British beef, produced to the highest possible safety and welfare standards, and that the Americans will take our beef in preference to their inferior produce.”

She warned against the UK “caving in” on trade terms.