Downing Street has said “negotiations are still ongoing” amid reports the Cabinet is in agreement over a planned trade deal with Australia.
The Sun reported Prime Minister Boris Johnson will offer Australia a 15-year transition to a zero-tariff, zero-quota trade pact, with the BBC reporting it was understood a Cabinet row over the matter had been resolved on Thursday night at Number 10.
Mr Johnson chaired the meeting of senior colleagues, with International Trade Secretary Liz Truss and Environment Secretary George Eustice thought to be at odds over the proposals and the impact they might have on British farmers.
Despite reporting that Cabinet was now in agreement over the matter, a Downing Street spokesman said on Friday morning “negotiations are still ongoing”.
Ms Truss, who has said she wants an agreement in principle by early June, is thought to favour a zero-tariff, zero-quota approach in order to boost the flow of trade.
But such a move could leave British farmers vulnerable to competition from beef and lamb producers in Australia, and Mr Eustice has suggested that quotas could be used to protect them.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “There are a regular series of meetings on not just this trade deal but the deals we have been working on throughout.
“The Prime Minister met with the ministers involved, like Liz Truss obviously, as part of the regular process.”
Mr Johnson “wants to maximise the massive opportunities presented by post-Brexit trade deals”, the spokesman said.
Downing Street insisted farmers would be protected in any deal with Australia.
“Any agreement would include protections for our agriculture industry and won’t undercut UK farmers,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.
“We want a deal that is good for the British public and any agreement would have protection for the agriculture industry.”
