EUROPE'S new trade deal with New Zealand has maintained protection for European livestock farmers – in 'stark contrast' to the UK-only deal which has thrown open the British market to cheaper meat imports.

In a broadside against the UK's post-Brexit trade policy, Scottish ministers have pointed out that the European Union has secured increased trade with NZ at far less cost to its domestic producers, and questioned why UK negotiators could not achieve the same result.

In a joint letter to UK Government Minister of State for Trade Policy Penny Mordaunt, Scottish Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon and Trade Minister Ivan McKee said that a factual comparison of the two deals 'emphasises the futility and economic self-harm of the UK Government leaving the EU, making its own trade agreements, and then ending up with a worse deal than if we had stayed in the EU'.

In the first year of its Free Trade Agreement, the UK will allow 12,000 tonnes of NZ beef into the UK, while the EU has agreed to only 3,333 tonnes access across all 27 EU member states. By year 15, the UK Government will allow 60,000 tonnes of New Zealand beef into the UK, and after that an unlimited quantity, while the EU will cap imports at 10,000 tonnes, and still apply a 7.5% tariff.

"We have consistently raised concerns at the lack of a level playing field between Scottish and NZ farmers, who can benefit from larger economies of scale," wrote the Scottish ministers. "It is notable that the EU – NZ FTA specifically excludes beef that is produced on commercial feedlots from benefitting from the preferential terms of this agreement. As concerns about fair competition are well known, why could the UK Government not agree a similar condition with NZ as part of its FTA negotiations?"

For sheepmeat, the contrast in the deals is similar. The UK-NZ FTA allows 50,000 tonnes of sheepmeat into the UK by year 15, with no limit on imports after that. The EU-NZ FTA allows a maximum of 38,000 tonnes across its far larger market. For other agri-food imports such as butter and cheese, the EU has again secured a better deal than the UK. In both cases the EU has maintained import quotas, where the UK Government has abandoned them.

Read more: French sheep farmers warn against EU trade deal with NZ

With the UK-only deal looking decidedly inferior, the Scottish Ministers asked: "We would be interested to know what lessons the UK Government will learn from this experience; whether it will pay more attention to the results of scoping assessments when they highlight that sectors stand to lose out as a result of an FTA; and what mitigations and compensation it will put in place for economic sectors and communities that suffer as a result of the UK Government’s trade deals."

The ministers also quizzed Ms Mordaunt over progress in having Scotland's geographical indications, such as Scotch Beef and Scottish Farmed Salmon, recognised. The UK Government did not secure recognition of agri-food GIs in its agreement with NZ – however the EU has succeeded in gaining recognition of its agri-food GIs in its own deal.