Now it is the farmers turn....
Surely if Brexit means anything it is the ability to sign trade deals which specifically benefit the UK? You’d therefore be forgiven for being confused over the latest row in government over whether to sign a trade deal with Australia and New Zealand. But really you shouldn’t be, it is simple. If you promise that everyone will win from Brexit and that they are going to have their cake and eat it, then you are going to betray and disappoint a lot of people. It also exposes the intellectual chasm at the centre of Brexit between those who want free trade and damn the consequences and those who think we should all eat local produce and become self sufficient. They are totally incompatible and both are stupid, simplistic, fantasies
First the fishing industry and now the farmers; probably the two most pro-brexit industries, are finding out what betrayal feels like. The economies of scale and the cheapness of the land mean that agricultural produce from the other side of the world is far cheaper than that produced in Europe. So there is a choice, let it flood into the UK and reduce food prices or keep it out and save the farming industry.
The row in government is over which course to follow and one reason it matters is that once you let in Australian and New Zealand produce every other country which the UK negotiates with is going to demand the same deal. There are very few sectors of UK agriculture that won’t be wiped out by that policy.
All those farmers with UKIP posters in their fields will be shafted, unless there is either no deal with our Antipodean cousins or subsidies are massively increased to keep them on the land. Subsidising farmers because you have deliberately undercut their industry is economic madness but it may well happen, and for what?
Any deal will boost the British economy by 0.03%, leaving the EU has cost between 4-5%.
https://jonty.substack.com/