I WROTE to our MP, the member for Bishop Auckland, about her views on food safety and animal welfare under post EU trade deals.

Dehenna Davison has declined to confirm that she will oppose any changes that will allow into the UK any food that has been subject to inferior standards such as chlorine-washed chicken, beef injected with growth promoting hormones or pigs injected with ractopamine to promote lean pork. Her initial response was to reassures us “that the Government will not compromise on our domestic welfare production standards”, but goes on to say “we cannot impose our domestic production standards on imports”.

In other words, in this brave new world, we’ll have our farmers producing food to our current high standards but being out-competed by farmers in other countries operating on much lower, and less safe, standards.

She also says that “requiring all imported goods to meet UK production standards would also likely be challenged at the WTO”.

In other words, we won’t have the power to determine our own food standards. Whatever happened to “take back control”?

I hope all our food producers and consumers will contact their MP about this.

Phil Hunt, Barningham.