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The Government has rejected a call from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) Select Committee to create a Food Security Minister post.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Environment Agency (EA) are to be given powers to authorise criminal conduct under a new piece of legislation passing through Parliament.

Lord Donald Curry has said Ministers would be ‘wise’ to accept his revised amendment to the Agriculture Bill, which would increase parliamentary scrutiny of future trade deals.

A top Welsh Government official has admitted that some ‘stresses and strains’ of farmers can be caused by Government actions.

Hopes of getting the Government to reconsider its opposition to a low-standard import ban have been given a boost after the Future British Standards Coalition (FBSC) heard evidence that such controls would be compliant with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.

The shadow Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC) has said setting high UK import standards in trade deals can benefit developing countries both economically and environmentally.

The ‘court of public opinion’ will force the Government’s hand on standards, president of NFU Scotland Andrew McCornick has said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the UK is now preparing to leave the EU without a deal, as he accused his European counterparts of ‘abandoning the idea of a free trade agreement’.

Conservative MPs who voted with the Government to reject an Agriculture Bill amendment to ban low-standard imports have been accused of ‘chucking farmers under a bus’ by the Liberal Democrats.

US Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has warned global adherence to rules set out in the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy would double world food prices and plunge millions more people into food insecurity.