Row over bid to import cheap US ‘chlorine-washed’ chicken

A CABINET row is brewing over plans to allow cheap American food into the UK as part of a post-Brexit trade deal with the United States.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox is pushing for agriculture to be included in discussions about a free trade deal, which could be struck within months of Britain leaving the EU.

Dr Fox, backed by Boris Johnson, has told ministers that the move could slash food prices for British consumers and encourage Washington to agree a ‘comprehensive’ deal that would be worth billions to the economy.

But Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom is opposed to the move, warn- ing it could damage farming, water down standards and end restrictions on controversial US products such as hormone-fed beef and chlorine-washed chicken – both banned in Europe.

A source familiar with the discussions said: ‘Liam’s view is that this stuff is legal and that the Americans have been eating it perfectly safely for years.

‘He believes free trade is the key to Britain’s future and it is hard to see how the US is going to sign up quickly to a meaningful trade deal that doesn’t include agriculture. Andrea thinks that consumers rightly value the high food standards we have in this country and would not understand why we were lowering them.’

Boris Johnson has also spoken out in favour of including farming in a deal with the US, arguing that it could end the ban on British beef imposed during the BSE crisis in the 1990s.

The US has made it clear it expects agriculture to be included in any trade talks. Bob Young, of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said free access for food products would be a ‘top priority’.

Brexit gives ministers the chance to shape new farming policies and standards which are currently set by Brussels. But a Tory source warned that any bid to tear up food standards to appease the US would breach the party’s 015 manifesto, which pledged to ‘uphold the highest standards of animal welfare’ as well as to push ‘for high animal welfare standards to be incorporated into international trade agreements’.