"We’re calling on the government to spell out exactly how it will safeguard animal welfare standards" - BVA president, James Russell.

BVA calls for clarity on how the government will safeguard animal welfare.

British vets have expressed concerns about the UK-Australia trade deal that will eliminate tariffs on Australian produce, including meat imports.

Under the agreement announced on Tuesday (15 June), British farmers will be protected by a cap on tariff-free imports for 15 years. However, the BVA is calling for clarity on how the government will safeguard the UK's higher animal welfare standards. 

“BVA has always argued that removing trade barriers must go hand in hand with protecting the UK’s reputation for high animal welfare standards,” commented BVA president James Russell.

“While the phasing in of tariff-free access gives British agriculture time to adjust, there appears to be no mechanism to ensure Australia must use that time to meet an appropriate level of animal welfare standards in order to secure tariff-free access to the UK market.

“With these key questions remaining, we’re calling on the Government to spell out exactly how it will safeguard animal welfare standards as the UK steps out onto the global trading stage.”

The National Farmers Union (NFU) has also expressed concern that animal welfare standards could be negatively impacted by the free trade deal. Ahead of the agreement, it stated that a tariff-free deal with Australia would ‘jeopardise’ British farming and ‘cause the demise of many, many beef and sheep farms throughout the UK’.

Responding to the announcement, NFU president Minette Batters, said: “While the government has previously been keen to highlight how our free trade agreements will uphold our high standards of food production, there has always been a question mark over how this can be achieved while opening up our markets to food produced to different standards.

“We will need to know more about any provisions on animal welfare and the environment to ensure our high standards of production are not undermined by the terms of this deal.”

According to the RSPCA, Australian farming involves several practices that are banned in the UK, including keeping hens in battery cages and giving beef cattle growth hormones.

A government spokesperson told reporters: “We are absolutely not compromising our high animal welfare and food safety standards. The government continues to champion the top quality producer British farmers both for domestic consumption and overseas”.