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 has taken to ensure the hazard-based approach to pesticide regulation is maintained in the event that the UK agrees trade deals with the US and Australia.
We will maintain our high food and environmental standards when operating our own independent pesticides regulatory regime after the Transition Period. The statutory requirements of the EU regime on standards of protection will be carried across unchanged into domestic law. Food imports into the UK will need to continue to comply with the rules on the maximum residue levels of pesticides. Existing maximum residue levels will all remain in place at the end of the Transition Period.
The Government will stand firm in trade negotiations to ensure any future trade deals live up to the values of farmers and consumers across the UK. We will not lower our standards nor put the UK’s biosecurity at risk as we negotiate new trade deals.