Interestingly the govt has also announced a scheme to pay farmers to retire - apparently in order to encourage them to 'hand on' their farms to the younger generation. Seems that the younger generation they're talking about though are hedge fund managers and other corporate Investors.Scot Dutchy wrote:Another "great" deal. I wonder how big was Boris's back hander in this one:
This Australian trade deal shows how ‘Global Britain’ has already lost its way
Rafael Behr wrote:Just like the prime minister’s promises on Brexit, Boris Johnson’s pledges of support to UK farmers will ring hollow
You can tell that British farmers will be betrayed by Boris Johnson by the way he promises to look after them. The prime minister has pledged support equivalent to forfeited European subsidies. He says the sector will be safe from cut-price competition when new free trade deals are signed. He has told Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union, that he would “rather die” than hurt her members. Really? Death before cheap beef? Maybe Johnson can honour those pledges, but it would be out of character.
It would also defeat the purpose of Brexit for many Tory MPs. “Take back control” signalled many things to voters, but to Eurosceptic ideologues it meant liberation from the EU’s common external tariff. Having trade policy run from Brussels was proof of Britain’s colonisation by continental bureaucrats. Deals with non-Europeans are the prize for emancipation.
That is why Liz Truss, the trade secretary, is determined to secure a zero-tariff agreement with Australia in time for next month’s G7 summit in Cornwall. The economic benefits would be marginal – shifting the growth dial by 0.02% over 15 years. But as a trophy for the “Global Britain” chest it is priceless. Other ministers – Michael Gove at the cabinet office and the environment secretary, George Eustice – fret about the impact on domestic producers who cannot compete with Australian mega-farms. Welsh and Scottish rural communities are especially vulnerable. Ministers who worry about the future of the union fear a fresh pot of nationalist grievance brewing.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-envi ... ost%20land.