Gove promises 'no compromise' on chlorinated chickens in US trade deal

Michael Gove has suggested he could block a post-Brexit trade deal with the US if it includes allowing imports on chlorinated chicken.

The Environment Secretary said the crux of the matter was animal welfare rather than food safety.

He warned that Britain would be "assertive" in such negotiations and would not compromise on the issue.

"The Cabinet is agreed that there should be no compromise on high animal welfare and environmental standards," Mr Gove told the Commons Environment select committee.

"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."

Mr Gove said his Environment department "punches above its weight" and has "extra muscle" in Whitehall.

He refused to say if he would veto a trade deal that included chlorinated chicken imports, but added MPs could stop the Government signing a trade deal they did not like.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has previously said the use of chlorine-washed chickens would only be "a detail of the very end stage of one sector" of a deal.

Some fear there will be a lowering of food safety and quality standards after the EU's strict rules cease to apply.

Mr Gove also branded a Labour MP's concern about the rising price of cheddar "unpatriotic".

Committee member Angela Smith had warned that if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal, cheese will have a 40% tariff put on it under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.

But the ardent Brexiteer replied: "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."