Britons worried the cost of foreign cheddar will soar after Brexit should be more patriotic in their cheese buying habits, Michael Gove today suggested.
The Environment Secretary was quizzed by MPs about what the impact of foodies will be if Britain left the bloc without a deal and resorted to World Trade Organisation tariffs.
Labour MP Angela Smith, who sits on the environment select committee, warned that much of the cheddar on UK supermarket shelves comes from the Republic of Ireland.
And she said that if the UK crashed out of Brussels without a deal then tariffs of 40 per cent will be slapped on these cheese blocks.
Michael Gove, pictured today in front of the environment select committee, said UK cheese producers boast some of the finest brands and flavours in the world
Ms Smith confronted Mr Gove about whether this will cause cheddar prices to rocket by a similar amount or ‘are we are all going to be forced to eat Wensleydale rather than cheddar?’
But the Environment Secretary said UK cheese producers boast some of the finest brands and flavours in the world.
He told the select committee: ‘I was going to say Angela, I am deeply concerned about your unpatriotic attitude towards cheddar! Because whether it’s Montgomery or Lincolnshire poacher there are very many…
‘At Defra we are very pro UK cheddar – whether it’s Orkney or west country cheddar.’
And he said the UK producers will be swift to satiate the country’s appetite for cheddar if the prices of foreign brands rise.
He told MPs: ‘If it is the case that we end up on WTO terms then I’m sure that British farmers and British food producers will find the opportunity to meet demand in this and other areas.’
He added: ‘One of the striking things about British farmers and British food producers is that they are capable of responding with rapidity and skill to fluctuations in the market.’
And Mr Gove – a leading Brexiteer – was backed up by his number two in the ministry George Eustice who declared: ‘We are the best manufacturer of cheese anywhere in the world.’
Mr Gove also waded back into the row about US chlorinated chicken, hinting that he would block a trade deal with America if it meant the import of the birds.
He said the issue was one of animal welfare rather than food safety, and Britain would need to be ‘assertive’ in such trade talks.
He said: ‘The Cabinet is agreed that there should be no compromise on high animal welfare and environmental standards.
Labour MP Angela Smith (pictured left) and environment select committee chairman Neil Parish (pictured right)quizzed Michael Gove about whether cheddar prices will soar by 40 per cent if the UK eaves the European Union on WTO rules
‘In America they cannot guarantee the same high standards in terms of how chickens are reared that we insist on here.
‘Unless there is a change in the American side we would say that those animal welfare rules are things on which we will not compromise.
‘The whole point about trade deals is that you have got to be assertive in defence of your own interests.’
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has previously said the issue of chlorine-washed chickens would only be ‘a detail of the very end stage of one sector of a potential free trade agreement’.