Letting in cheap US food will 'decimate' our farming industry, warn campaigners
Britain faces the 'decimation' of its agriculture industry if farmers are forced to compete with inferior foreign imports, campaigners warned last night.
Save British Farming has unveiled new banners and posters urging the Government to 'save British food' by upholding our world-leading agricultural standards.
The group hopes to see homes across the country put the banners and posters in gardens and windows to help keep controversial US food products off British supermarket shelves in any trade deal.
Giving its backing to The Mail on Sunday's Save Our Family Farms campaign, the group warns that the 'opening of floodgates to lower regulated food will lead to the decimation of British farming'.
Save British Farming has unveiled new banners and posters urging the Government to 'save British food' by upholding our world-leading agricultural standards (stock image)
There are fears that a trade deal with the US could lead to UK supermarkets being flooded with cheap produce, such as hormone-fed beef or chlorinated chicken.
Liz Webster, founder of Save British Farming, (and a Wiltshire Liberal Democrat) said: 'There is hope if enough people fight for this. The overwhelming majority of the British public don't want to lower food standards.
'We all are what we eat and I don't want young children eating hormone-injected beef or chlorinated chicken.'
'It's about the food on people's plates - it's not just about farms. We want to see these banners everywhere so that our MPs can see how passionately the British feel about their food.'
Last month, Save British Farming campaigners drove a convoy of tractors to Parliament Square in London to protest against the Agriculture Bill.
Ministers have repeatedly pledged not to undermine animal welfare and environmental and food standards with low-quality imports in any deal with the US.
However, a bid to enshrine the promise in law was defeated in a Commons vote in May this year.
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