The real value of the Australia trade deal

If Britain had been unable to agree a trade deal with Australia, then Brexit really would have been pointless. The country is one of our greatest allies and we have no rational reason to fear its beef, its sugar or its people. A free trade deal, aligned with visa-free travel, ought to have been the easiest deal to do.

A deal is now done, phasing in these freedoms over 15 years. But even this sluggish pace is too fast for the protectionists who are popping up. Some have predicted that our beef farmers will be ruined and the countryside laid to waste as our markets are opened to competition. Many of the claims revolve around the fact that just under half of the beef produced in Australia comes from animals treated with growth hormones — a practice banned within the EU. We are assured that such beef will not be seen on British supermarket shelves. But critics seemingly cannot point to any evidence as to why it is harmful to humans or animals — nor why Australia’s food standards authorities would allow it if that were the case.

Further comments have been made about the size of Australian farms, without anyone being able to explain why an animal either knows or indeed cares about the size of the holding on which it is being raised. As long as farm conditions meet normal standards, is this really a sticking point? We can expect such complaints every time a free trade deal is raised. It is a challenge to the government’s ‘global Britain’ agenda.

Let’s see the deal with Australia as the start of what an ambitious, globally minded Britain can achieve

Boris Johnson retrieved these freedoms in the Brexit campaign, but having acquired them, to what extent can he use them? Or will he feel the need to compromise with Tory protectionists and their ready supply of scare stories?