SIR, – It’s becoming increasingly clear that, unless there is a change of heart, the trading position of livestock farming post-Brexit will be dire.
With a hard Brexit cutting off the European market and a Conservative Government promoting itself as a champion of tariff-free access to the UK for the rest of the World, we face a double whammy of losing a huge proportion of our current export markets and facing tariff-free lamb and beef imports from New Zealand, Australia and South America.
As trade deals with the EU and other countries are negotiated there will be winners and losers in the UK economy - financial services which form such an important sector will be first priority for UK negotiators, manufacturing will come second.
Agricultural products will be merely the bargaining chip to protect the interests of the other sectors. We’ve heard about the City, we’ve heard about Nissan - has anyone heard a UK minister even mention agricultural trade in a general political discussion on Brexit?
Under these circumstances surely there has to be an opportunity for the British people, not least the farming community, to vote on the Brexit deal once the terms are known and avert this self-inflicted damage.
Joan Mitchell
Bagbie Farm
Newton Stewart
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