Chlorinated chicken threatens the union

THE suggestion that the UK will have to import chlorinated chicken as one of the conditions of a free trade deal with the United States has been around for a while, but it’s now gathering pace.

As early as next week the UK Government may publish a consultation paper with a view to legislating how a “UK single market” will work after we have left the EU single market and the customs union.

There is, of course, considerable irony in the UK Government extolling the value of its own single market at the same time as insisting that we leave the one that has provided us with real economic benefits for years.

That aside, we could be heading for a serious crisis if Boris Johnson and his cohorts pursue the course they have embarked on.

As things stand, policy areas like animal welfare - which is of great pertinence to the chlorinated chicken issue - and food standards are the devolved responsibility of the Welsh Government.

In the context of Brexit, however, Westminster has already shown itself perfectly capable of treating the devolution settlement with contempt by insisting on taking powers away from Wales and the other devolved nations.

If it keeps behaving like this, the question of the sustainability of the current settlement will arise, with some who have previously been sceptical about the case for Welsh independence drawn towards it.

The Scottish Government has already expressed its outright opposition to what it imagines Westminster’s proposal will be.

In Wales, Counsel General Jeremy Miles is taking what he sees as the more reasonable approach of seeking to persuade those in Westminster to abide by the respect agenda that was originally enunciated by David Cameron.

Mr Miles is proposing that Boris Johnson’s Ministers should show a little humility by being prepared to deal with him, his ministerial colleagues and ministers in the other devolved administrations on an equal footing. Instead of seeking to steamroller through a reduction in standards, representatives from the four nations should sit down together and work out between them what common standards should apply.

This sounds excellent in theory, but does not get round the worry that Mr Johnson and his cohort are desperate to get a free trade deal with the US, and if that means accepting chlorinated chicken as part of the deal, that’s what will happen.

In pursuing such a course, the union would be damaged.