Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, with reference to the document EU Exit Analysis Cross Whitehall Briefing, dated January 2018, what assumptions were made when modelling for the impact on gross value added in the agriculture sector of exiting the EU under a Free Trade Agreement scenario.

Leaving the European Union means leaving the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). We now want to take the opportunities leaving brings to reform the UK’s agricultural policy and ensure we make the most of these for our farmers and exporters.

The document to which the Honourable Member’s question refers is preliminary draft analysis and does not represent Government policy. As Ministers clearly set out in the House, this is provisional and incomplete internal work, part of a broad ongoing programme of analysis, and further work is in train.

It is analysis of existing trade relationships - none of which is the outcome we are working towards. As the Prime Minister has made clear, we are seeking the broadest and deepest possible partnership with the EU – covering more sectors and co-operating more fully than any Free Trade Agreement anywhere in the world today.