Now UK may avoid chlorinated chicken

JOE BIDEN will rip up Donald Trump’s post-Brexit trade template and ditch demands for the UK to lower its food standards, diplomatic sources have said.

They claim Mr Biden will ease concerns that Britain will be forced to accept sub-standard American food – such as chlorinated chicken – as the price for a lucrative trade deal with Washington.

Sources said the President-Elect will switch away from Mr Trump’s plan for a boutique deal with the UK in favour of a multi-lateral approach – potentially involving a trans-Pacific trade partnership where high food standards would be maintained.

That would spare Boris Johnson a potential showdown with Washington over protecting UK food producers or sealing a trade deal.

Mr Johnson has faced mounting anger from chefs, farmers and his own MPs over fears that the UK’s traditionally high food standards could be negotiated away during trade talks with Mr Trump.

The issue – symbolised by the prospect of hormone-fed beef as well as chlorinated poultry appearing on supermarket shelves – has been taken up by celebrities such as Jamie Oliver, who backed The Mail on Sunday’s Save Our Family Farms campaign to protect them from cheap food imports. In a major victory for that campaign, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss and George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, bowed to pressure last weekend and agreed to bolster an advisory commission to give farmers ‘a stronger voice in UK trade policy’.

Diplomatic sources now suggest Mr Biden may seek to reverse Mr Trump’s decision to withdraw from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade network including Japan, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

They say the vast network – now called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for TransPacific Partnership (CPTPP) and which the UK is looking to join – stipulates high food standards.

One source said: ‘That potentially helps the UK and spares Boris from an unpalatable choice – winning a great post-Brexit trade deal or sticking to the Tory manifesto pledge that they won’t sell out our farms and their world-class food.’

National Farmers’ Union president Minette Batters said Mr Biden’s victory could also help in the drive for sustainable food production globally.

She said: ‘It will give hope to those who seek global leadership in tackling climate change. Covid has brought into sharp focus the need to re-evaluate our food system and drive higher standards.’