BRITAIN'S beef and sheep farmers this week contemplated 'absolute betrayal' by the UK Government, as Boris Johnson's cabinet met to discuss a zero tariff trade deal with Australia.

Alarmed farmers leaders from the UK's four nations held an emergency press conference to highlight the very real possibility that Johnson's administration, desperate to sign post-Brexit trade deals around the world, might be set to 'do a complete u-turn' on its promise to protect domestic farm businesses from a flood of cheap overseas food.

While by no means a done deal, the principle of a no-barriers trade agreement with Australia, and a parallel arrangement with New Zealand, is understood to be under serious discussion, with negotiations at an advanced stage. As such, the presidents of the four farming unions did not hold back on the apocalyptic language.

"We are fully behind trade liberalisation," stressed ENFU president Minette Batters, "but we have had assurances that British agriculture would not be compromised in the process.

"We are never going to be able to compete on the scale of Australian beef units or New Zealand sheep ranches. It would be an absolute betrayal by this government if it were to sign a trade deal removing all barriers to cheap food imports from these countries.

"This week is crucial!" stressed Ms Batters. "Cabinet agreement would be massively significant, and signal a complete u-turn on UK Government trade policy, the effects of which would be felt not just by the current generation of farmers, but for generations to come."

NFU Scotland president Martin Kennedy wholeheartedly agreed, backed up Ulsters Farmers Union president Vic Chestnutt and NFU Cymru president John Davies, saying that in terms of both standards and scale, unfettered Antipodean meat imports would completely undermine the UK market.

"We've just gone through two serious consultations on animal welfare in transit – but on the other side of the political coin, we seem happy to trade with a country that just hasn't the same respect for animal welfare," said Mr Kennedy.

"Right now we have the consumers on our side. Covid has shown them the importance of food security, and many of them are happy to be supporting local produce, and the price isn't bothering them if they are getting the right assurances about provenance and animal welfare and environmental impact," he said. "In those circumstances, why would you want to fly food halfway across the world? If we want net zero carbon, we need to produce it here, rather than just exporting our food's carbon footprint elsewhere. It's all going into the same atmosphere."

Ms Batters recalled Mr Johnson's numerous assurances to farmers that post-Brexit trade would not undermine their position, and delivered a blunt warning that any betrayal of those promises would sit very badly with the extensive livestock farmers of the devolved nations in particular.

"If you want to keep the UK together, you go down this path at your absolute peril," she said. "Destroying these bedrock industries could massively compromise the nature of the union."