An imminent trade deal with Gulf states including Saudi Arabia could have a destructive impact for UK farmers, industry figures have warned, suggesting that any deal to import chicken would involve far lower welfare standards in the Gulf than British farmers must adhere to.
The £1.6bn deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – is expected to be signed soon, though the conclusion may be delayed until after Eid al-Adha in early June.
Industry figures said the deal could include uncapped access for chickens if the imports met hygiene standards, which is critical because of the agrifoods deal the UK hopes to seal with the EU in the coming months.
But those standards do not cover welfare, causing alarm among farmers who have recently had to meet new, higher standards under British law.
The National Farmers’ Union president, Tom Bradshaw, said if such a deal were done it would “mark a clear betrayal of the government’s own promises to uphold our high animal welfare, environmental and food safety standards, standards which are globally renowned and driven by consumer demand.
“For example, British poultry farmers are continuing to improve welfare standards by lowering the number of birds per flock. They must not be undercut by imports produced in ways that would be illegal here. I’m not sure how many times we have to repeat it – we must not sign any deal that undermines UK farming. The public won’t accept it, and neither will British farmers.”
Bradshaw said the prime minister, Keir Starmer, the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, and the environment secretary, Steve Reed, all committed to protecting farmers from being undercut by low standards and low welfare in trade deals.
“So we expect the government to stand its ground and ensure that poultry products produced in ways that fail to meet our own production standards remain excluded from market access concessions within this deal,” he said.
The UK has previously promised the deal would not compromise environmental, public health, animal welfare and food standards.
UK farming is governed by relatively strict animal welfare laws, which differ significantly from GCC countries, including housing density, slaughter methods and living conditions.
Farmers have minimum standards to reach in terms of space for birds to live in, and there is mandatory pre-slaughter stunning in most cases.
In the six Gulf countries involved in the deal, poultry must be slaughtered according to halal principles, though stunning is sometimes used. Poultry are often raised in intensive indoor systems, especially given the harsh heat.
The UK has some of the strictest standards for chicken space in the world. Poultry farmers must give their flock a minimum of 750cm squared of space per bird, and 600cm squared must be usable.
This is stricter than EU standards, which require the same space per bird but do not specify the amount that must be usable.
Chickens are also required to be given enriched areas, with items they can peck such as hay, string or mineral blocks, and perches to sit on.
The Gulf states give less than half the space per bird than in the UK, at 300cm squared, and there is no limit on the number of birds raised in one house. Chickens in the Gulf are raised to halal standards and are subjected to non-stunned slaughter. This is legal, but less common, in the UK.
The deal, which has been led by the trade minister Douglas Alexander, is likely to be particularly beneficial for the car industry and financial services, though estimates suggest a free trade agreement would be worth less than 1% of GDP by 2035.
Trade with the six-member bloc is worth about £59bn a year, according to UK government estimates, as the UK’s seventh-largest export market, with a trade deal expected to increase trade by about 16%. The deal has caused alarm among human rights groups about the lack of provisions for improving rights in the region.
