Prominent Brexiteer declares he is a French farmer as takes sideswipe at EU

A leading Brexiteer has declared his interest as a French farmer as he accused Brussels of flouting international trade rules.

Tory former Cabinet minister Lord Lilley referred to his smallholding in France as he pressed the Government over its “reset” deal with the EU.

The Government claims the post-Brexit agreement will cut red tape for travellers and businesses, boosting the UK economy by £9 billion by 2040.

But critics argue it amounts to “betrayal” by granting European trawlers access to British fishing waters for a further 12 years.

Part of the deal includes an accord on animal and plant product standards, known as sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, which will free up trade with the continent for farmers and food producers.

Responding to a statement in Parliament on the pact, Lord Lilley said: “I must declare an interest as a French farmer, in a small way, in my smallholding in France.

“In any case, I would welcome any agreement that I believed would remove or reduce unnecessary burdens to trade resulting from SPS regulations across the Channel.”

However, he argued such an arrangement already existed under the World Trade Organisation which stated that SPS measures should not be applied as “a disguised restriction on international trade”.

Lord Lilley said: “Yet that is what EU countries do, and the EU has been found in repeated violation of this agreement.”

He added: “I ask the minister why she believes that the EU will adhere to a rather vague and ill-defined agreement that she proposes to reach, when it is in flagrant and repeated violation of an agreement that has been in force under international law for some years?”

In reply, the leader of the Lords Baroness Smith of Basildon, who is a member of the Cabinet, said: “We are confident about this agreement and confident in our relationship with the EU.

“All those who export to the EU and have produce going to the EU, as well as all those who bring produce into this country, know how urgent and important it is that we reached the agreement.

“We have confidence in it, we believe that we will adhere to it, and we will ensure that the EU does too.”

Among those welcoming the deal was prominent Tory Remainer Ken Clarke, who was briefly kicked out of the party for rebelling over Brexit.

The Conservative former chancellor hailed it as the start of a “soft Brexit” with the EU “to replace the hard Brexit that has done so much harm to our economy in recent years and continues to do so”.

Lord Clarke of Nottingham said: “Will the minister confirm that we can make great progress without in any way compromising the public vote in the referendum?

“The hard Brexit we had was quite unnecessarily, fiercely anti-European.

“Can she reassure us that this is only the start of a continuing process of negotiation, so that we see firm detail and more positive results for interest groups in addition to the farmers?”

Lady Smith said: “For me, one of the most important things that came out of this is that now we have a willingness to talk, engage and reach agreement.

“That has been sadly missing, and this has been damaging to the British economy and the British people.”

She added: “We all, I hope, want to see a better relationship with the EU – one that is mature – where we can have those discussions.

“Where we agree and can move forward, we want to do so.

“So there are outstanding issues and details here, and we intend to make that progress in the interests of the economy and the people of this country.”

Tory former Cabinet minister John Gummer, who sits in the upper chamber as Lord Deben, said: “Will the minister accept that this has been widely supported throughout the country, and right across parties, because it shows that this Government have at least lived in the world we live in, and not in some past world?

“We now go forward to work more closely with our biggest and most important market and our closest neighbour.”

Lady Smith said: “He makes a very important point about living in the real world.”

On the issue of alignment with the EU, she added: “If you look at what has happened already, you find that there has not been the divergence that we were told was going to happen.

“That is why the paperwork that British businesses have to go through in order to export is such nonsense and a burden for them.

“This is about living in the real world and doing the best we can for the economy and the people of this country.”