A SOUTH Cumbrian farm leader is urging producers to step up the lobbying to ensure proper scrutiny of food standards in future free-trade deals.

Richard Pedley, National Farmers Union (NFU) Uplands Forum Representative says the future of British food and farming is at stake." Without proper safeguards on future trade deals we risk seeing an increase in food imports that have been produced to standards that would be illegal here in the UK"

Richard, who farms Swaledale sheep, Mule ewes and Blue Faced Leicesters with his parents at Ellerbeck in Barbon, near Carnforth, says 'disappointment, frustration, and disbelief followed the recent vote on the amendment to the Agriculture Bill, which saw 332 MPs vote against upholding UK Food and Animal Welfare Standards.

"These MPs chose to ignore the demands of the British public, instead, choosing to put the future health of ourselves and our children at risk by the very real possibility that fruit and veg sprayed with pesticides illegal in the UK, chlorinated washed chicken, and hormone reared beef grown and produced with little or no regard for the environment, could soon be on our supermarket shelves. WE deserve better from our Government, the British public deserve better," added Richard.

"However, I was heartened too that 279 MPs voted in favour of upholding our Food and Animal welfare Standards. With more public pressure,and the hope that with the Agriculture Bill returning to the House of Lords this week this should give a new opportunity for the Lords to put forward an amendment that will give the Trade and Agriculture Commission more teeth and enable MPs to have their say; one that can be heard by the House of Commons, with a final vote to see those safeguards put in place."