The following article appears in and is Published by Mirror Politics, 16 June 2021

Aussie Rules

Boris Johnson is obviously very proud of the trade deal with Australia.

He sent an email to Tory supporters last night, subject line Deal Done!, boasting how this was Global Britain at its best.

Given the agreement will increase our GDP by 0.02% over the next fifteen years you may conclude the Prime Minister has not set the highest of bars for measuring Global Britain’s success.

Downing Street has been coy to the point of being deliberately secretive about the details of the deal and what little information we do have has mainly come from Canberra.

The UK has trumpeted the fact that consumers will now get slightly cheaper Australian wine but has been less forthcoming on what it means for farmers and food standards.

Boris Johnson hailed the deal in the No10 garden today with his Aussie counterpart Scott Morrison (Image: Getty Images)

To protect British farmers the government has agreed to keep tariffs on Australian beef and lamb for ten years but, in a sleight of hand, it has also agreed to increase immediately quotas for Australian meat imports rendering the protections meaningless.

Minette Batters of the NFU was lukewarm about the benefits of the agreement.

“This trade deal, and those that follow it, will, I hope, provide UK farmers with opportunities to export more great British food abroad, although we should be realistic about the extent of those prospects with large net-exporters such as Australia.

“We should also be clear about the likelihood that these deals will mean a significant increase in competition in our domestic agricultural markets,” she said.

She also called for Parliament to be able to scrutinise the small print before it is ratified.

This call will almost certainly fall on stoney ground.

Taking back control

Brexiteers are very keen on the concept of taking back control but less keen on the practice.

MPs will have almost no opportunity to amend the deal and have no vote on whether it comes into force.

If voters thought Brexit meant we would have greater sovereignty and important decisions would no longer be made behind closed doors they may be disappointed to discover little has changed.

Yet this matters.

The deal could undermine British farmers, who are obliged to adhere to higher animal welfare standards, while eventually allowing the imports of meat products from livestock kept in sometimes appalling conditions.

It could also make it harder to resolve the tensions over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The EU will only want tighter controls at borders if the UK starts importing goods that fall short of its standards.

Other than that, this is a triumph for global Britain.