British public will not stomach lower food quality – Micheál Martin

The lowering of UK food standards after Brexit to allow a trade deal with the US would be an extraordinary and devastating move, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has said.

Mr Martin has said he was astonished at reports that the British international trade secretary Liam Fox wanted to take food standards in the UK on a different path to those in place in Europe.

He expected British consumers would revolt against such a move and castigated Mr Fox for “playing fast and loose with food safety”.

“It’s extraordinary from Liam Fox. He will not be thanked by British consumers,” said Mr Martin.

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“It’s the consumers who bring the standard up. Anybody involved in food production knows that when something goes wrong on the shelf in terms of contamination, it is devastating for that product and for the company.

“The one good thing about the EU is it has raised standards across the board in terms of health and safety, food standards and the environment.”

Mr Martin said he did not think “politicians can start playing fast and loose with food safety” and that “consumers will revolt against the idea that leaving Europe means a reduction in food quality and standards”.

Over-dramatised

He also contended the only reason the issue of the backstop, which would see the North remaining linked to the EU’s single market and customs union to avoid issues around the Border in the event of a no-deal Brexit, needed to be “de-dramatised” was because the Government had over-dramatised and oversold an agreement reached last December.

Nobody wants a hard border and no deal. That would be calamitous for Ireland, for the EU and for Britain

Mr Martin sounded a positive not about the outcome of the process.

“I think there will be a deal because there are 39 billion reasons there has to be a deal,” he said, in a reference to the the British bill for exiting the EU being put at £39 billion.

“Nobody wants a hard border and no deal. That would be calamitous for Ireland, for the EU and for Britain.”

Mr Martin was speaking during a visit to the National Ploughing Championships on Thursday.

On the biggest issues of contention, the Border and the backstop, he said they had been long-fingered constantly since March.

Strong positions

Nonetheless, he felt the process was going in the right direction, contrary to the strong positions adopted in Salzburg this week.

“I think people are edging towards an agreement in November despite all the hard talk over the past two days.”

He said “everybody was now talking about tracing goods from Britain to Northern Ireland, from the UK to the Republic”, something that had been ridiculed several months ago.

“That is valuable, but there is more than a technical solution required in terms of access to the customs union and access to the single market for companies in Northern Ireland.

“It’s not just the avoidance of hard physical structure. It’s more about the trading relationship between the UK and Europe.”