British media last week reported a split in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet, with the current Environment Secretary George Eustice and his influential predecessor Michael Gove fighting to keep British farmers behind a tariff wall.
In the opposite camp is Johnson’s Trade Secretary Liz Truss who wants Britain’s agricultural tariffs gone in the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) currently under negotiation to signal the UK’s free-trading intent post-Brexit.
In a crucial intervention, Johnson took to the floor of the British Parliament on Wednesday to back Truss.
The leader of the Scottish National Party Ian Blackford asked Johnson to “categorically rule out … being prepared to sign up a trade deal that will at any point guarantee tariff-free access to Australian lamb and beef”.
Johnson replied saying Blackford “grossly underestimates (Scottish farmers’) ability to do great things with our trade deals and to export Scottish beef around the world. All he does is call for us to pull up the drawbridge … Why is he so frightened of free trade?
“I think it is a massive opportunity for Scotland and for the whole of the UK and he should seize it and be proud of it.”
However, British media report Johnson remains under intense pressure from fellow Conservatives after being warned by Gove that scrapping agricultural tariffs could intensify pressure from within Scotland to leave the UK.
It also risked inflaming arguments over Welsh independence.
The blow-up comes as Trade Minister Damien O’Connor prepares to travel to London and Brussels next month to advance talks for free trade deals with the UK and the European Union.
One Wellington insider says Johnson’s statement was a positive development for NZ’s negotiations, although noted the British PM’s erratic reputation and past record for U-turns.
“It is very helpful to us but how much detail do you think BoJo is actually over?” they asked.
While the offer on the table from the UK was an improvement on current market access, it remained short of what would be acceptable to NZ.
The source says NZ negotiators had been told by their UK counterparts that they could not conclude an agreement without some tariffs and quotas remaining in place for the most sensitive agricultural products.
Former Trade Minister Lockwood Smith, who has close ties to senior members of the Tory Cabinet, says the pressure was on Johnson and his fellow Brexiteers for trade deals now the UK was out of the EU.
“The success of Brexit depends on the UK developing a dynamic new trading strategy and Boris knows that,” Smith said.
“It is so important to him that Brexit succeeds and that is why he will come down on Truss’ side, but Gove in particular is a fairly significant person against him.”
But Smith says the UK had to face reality if it wanted free trade for its own exporters.
“If they stick with the quotas and tariffs then forget Global Britain,” he said.
“It ain’t going to happen.”
Smith was disappointed at reports that Eustice was pushing for an extended phase-out of tariffs over 15 years to protect British farmers
He says that was too long for NZ exporters to have to wait.
More sensible would be aligning tariff reductions with the wind-down of direct payments to British farmers inherited from the EU and their replacement with subsidies for public goods such as fostering bird habitats and creating wetlands.
That process is expected to take seven years.
“Ten years would make sense. It would give time for farmers to settle into new support systems that Eustice is putting in place and give certainty,” he said.
