Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that Britain retains high quality food standards when the transition period concludes.

The UK Government will not compromise on our standards. Our manifesto is clear that in all of our trade negotiations, we will not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards. We remain firmly committed to upholding our high environmental, food safety and animal welfare standards outside the EU. The EU Withdrawal Act will transfer all existing EU food safety provisions, including existing import requirements, onto the UK statute book.

The UK’s food standards, for both domestic production and imports, are overseen by the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland. These are agencies that provide independent advice to the UK and Scottish Governments. They will continue to do so in order to ensure that all food imports comply with the UK’s high safety standards. Decisions on these standards are a matter for the UK and will be made separately from any trade agreement.

The Government has committed to a serious and rapid examination of what could be done through labelling in the UK market to promote high standards and high welfare goods. The Government is also prepared to consult, as I reiterated at the despatch box. Any scheme could not be devised until we have competed the transition period and would need to recognise World Trade Organization obligations.