UK trade – an overview

The UK is at a turning point in its international trading relationships, and this poses both risks and opportunities for animal welfare.

On this page, you can find out the latest situation, what is at stake, and what Compassion's campaigners and supporters are doing to help protect farm animal welfare in new UK Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).

Why is trade an issue?

As a result of the UK leaving the European Union (EU), the country is able to set its own trade policy for the first time in almost 50 years. Previously these policies were determined at EU level (although the UK was involved in decision-making, alongside the other Member States).

Setting trade policy includes determining rules on which food products can be imported. And, whilst the UK's farming standards could certainly be improved, its legal baselines are higher than most other countries. It is essential that the UK does not allow imports of products that are produced to lower animal welfare standards than those permitted in the UK.

Read our latest report, 'Closing the Welfare Gap: Why the UK Must Apply Its Animal Protection Standards to Imports', produced in association with Animal Policy International and the RSPCA.

What are the choices facing the UK?

Since leaving the EU, the UK has two options:

HM Government could choose to require certain products to meet UK legal standards in order for them to be imported. This would prevent UK farmers from being undercut, and leave open the possibility of further improving domestic animal welfare legislation.
Alternatively, the UK could opt to lower the bar for imported products, increasing pressure to lower domestic standards, and potentially taking the country into a 'race to the bottom', where it seeks to compete only on price rather than food quality and animal welfare.

The choice the Government makes could have a more significant impact on the UK's standards of animal welfare, food safety, and environmental protection than its decisions in any other single policy area. It will determine the food UK citizens eat, affect the livelihoods of higher welfare farmers within the UK, and influence the welfare of potentially billions of farmed animals in the UK and beyond. And the ramifications could be felt for decades to come.

Is Northern Ireland a Special Case?

Yes. The Northern Ireland Protocol means that Northern Ireland remains subject to European Union trading rules – particularly in terms of animals and food products – and therefore outside any other arrangements that are made for Britain. This means Northern Irish consumers, farmers and animals will be affected by future EU decisions on animal welfare but may be less impacted by the risks and opportunities of new UK FTAs.

What is the UK Government's position?

The current and previous UK Government have repeatedly said the country will not see its animal welfare standards diluted on departure from the EU.

Whilst commitments are most welcome, the statements are also problematic. That is because it isn’t our animal welfare standards that are the issue: this is about whether we enforce our standards on imported food stuffs. As things stand, some of the Government's actions on trade have done more to undermine than support this pledge to uphold UK standards.

Tariffs

Tariffs are effectively taxes that are placed on goods entering a market. The Government could charge higher import tariffs for products that don't meet UK standards and a lower rate for those that do.

However, this should be one of a host of mechanisms used to protect standards, not the only one. Particularly because it is difficult to ensure that any tariff is sufficiently high to effectively keep a product permanently off the supermarket shelves; there is likely to be pressure to remove or reduce tariffs during FTA negotiations and; Parliament has no mechanism to challenge the tariffs that the Government sets, meaning they could be reduced over time – potentially to zero, thereby offering no protection at all. Once the principle has been accepted that low welfare, low quality food can be imported, even with a high tariff, there will be steady pressure to reduce the tariff over time.

Legislation

The solution to this situation should be legislation that prevents certain products from being imported under the terms of any FTA – backed up by a set of core standards for animal welfare – but the UK Government has resisted legal measures at every turn.

Scrutiny

One of the major concerns with trade agreements is a lack of scrutiny and democratic accountability. Modern trade agreements affect huge swathes of public policy, including food standards and animal welfare. So, it is critical that trade deals are developed with democratic support and that MPs have the power to scrutinise and vote on trade agreements.

Compassion has therefore been calling for Parliament to be given greater oversight of the way trade agreements are negotiated and ratified. Currently, Parliamentarians have no say in setting the negotiating objectives for any FTAs. Plus, the role of Parliament in monitoring trade negotiations is extremely limited, as is their power to reject an FTA.

Negotiations are often opaque, sidelining Parliament and the public, despite having profound implications for the UK's economy, public services and regulatory standards. Those outside Government are often forced to rely on media reports and speculation to learn what concessions are being considered by the UK Government.

The Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand were passed without any vote in Parliament, and with the content of them not being made public until the negotiations had concluded. The previous Government did place the independent Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC), which will review FTAs, on a statutory footing, but they can only consider each FTA individually, rather than the cumulative impacts of all FTAs on particular farming sectors. Whilst one agreement on its own might see comparatively small increase in a given sector, the cumulative impact of these FTAs could facilitate access for a wide range of agri-food goods from across the world. In most cases, those goods will be produced to standards not permitted in the UK and should not be allowed access under any FTAs the UK Government secures.

In sum, despite pledging to protect UK animal welfare standards in trade deals, Governments have repeatedly refused to introduce legal protection for animals, farmers, and consumers against lower standard imports, and resisted thorough, meaningful scrutiny of FTAs.

Polling commissioned by the Trade Justice Movement and Global Justice Now, in July 2022, shows strong support for greater public involvement and parliamentary scrutiny of trade agreements:

4 in 5 (83%) UK consumers think it's important the public are well informed about the potential impacts of a trade deal before it comes into force.
4 in 5 (79%) UK consumers agree it should be possible for Parliament to amend parts of trade agreements if it thinks there could be negative impacts on the UK.
This is backed up by polling in 2023, conducted by Bryant Research which found that 84% – 5 out of 6 people – support putting restrictions or bans on low-welfare imports that do not meet UK production standards.