Warning UK-Gulf trade deal could let in low-welfare chicken and undermine farmers | Trade policy
Industry figures have warned that there is an imminent trade agreement with the Gulf states, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which may have a devastating impact for farmers in the United Kingdom, indicating that any deal to import chicken will include much lower luxury standards in the Gulf than British farmers must adhere to.
A deal worth 1.6 billion pounds with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-Bahrain, Kuwait, Amman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are expected to be signed near, although the conclusion may be delayed until after Eid in early June.
Industry numbers said that the deal can include access to unexploited chicken if imports meet hygiene standards, which is very important due to the Agrifoods deal that the UK hopes to close with the European Union in the coming months.
But these criteria do not cover luxury, causing farmers who recently had to meet new and higher standards under British law.
“A clear betrayal of the government’s promises to support the standards of animal welfare, the environment and the high food safety we have, which are internationally famous standards driven by consumers.”
“For example, British poultry farmers continue to improve social welfare standards by reducing the number of birds for each herd. They should not be undermined through imports produced in ways that will be illegal here. I am not sure of the number of times we have to repeat – we should not sign any deal to undermine the UK.
Pradesho said that Prime Minister Kiir Starmer, Minister of Business, Jonathan Reynolds, Minister of Environment, Steve Reed, are all committed to protecting farmers from undermining in accordance with low standards and low care in commercial deals.
He said: “Therefore, we expect the government to stand on the basis of it and make sure that the products produced produced in ways that fail to meet our production standards are still excluded from the concessions of reaching the market in this deal.”
The United Kingdom has previously promised that the deal will not display environmental standards, public health, animal welfare and food.
Agriculture in the United Kingdom is subject to relatively strict animal care laws, which are very different from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, including housing density, slaughtering and living conditions.
Farmers have the minimum standards to reach the space for birds to live in, and there is amazing mandatory holiness in most cases.
In the six Gulf countries participating in the deal, poultry should be slaughtered according to the principles of halal, although sometimes amazing use. Poultry is often raised in intense internal systems, especially given the harsh heat.
The UK has some of the most strict standards of the world’s chicken space. Poultry farmers should give their herd at least 750 square cm from an area for each bird, and it must be used in a 600 cm box.
This is more strict than the European Union standards, which requires the same space for each bird but does not specify the amount that must be used.
Chicken is also required to give fertilized areas, with elements that can flip such as straw, chain or metal blocks, and sit on sitting.
The Gulf states are granted less than half of the space for each bird than they were in the United Kingdom, at an altitude of 300 cm, and there is no limit to the number of birds raised in one house. Chicken is raised in the Gulf according to halal criteria and undergoing non -underdeveloped slaughter. This is legal, but it is less common, in the United Kingdom.
The deal, led by Minister of Trade Douglas Alexander, is likely to be especially useful for the auto and financial services industry, although estimates indicate that the free trade agreement will be worth less than 1 % of GDP by 2035.
The value of trade with the bloc of six members is about 59 billion pounds annually, according to the estimates of the UK government, as the seventh largest export market in the United Kingdom, where a trade deal is expected to increase by 16 %. The deal caused a discomfort between human rights groups about the lack of provisions to improve rights in the region.
