Keir Starmer’s EU reset risks £1bn blow to farmers

Jerome Mayhew, the shadow business minister, warned Sir Keir he must not cave to Brussels’s demands and sacrifice the cutting-edge industry.

He said: “Attempts to get closer to the EU risk throwing our farmers and scientific communities under the bus.

“If this government is serious about food security, reduced reliance on chemicals and economic growth, the Labour-EU love-in must draw the line at watering down UK progress on precision breeding”

George Freeman, a former science minister, said the Government must not “surrender the freedoms that Brexit has afforded us to pursue gene-editing”.

He said: “Gene editing can bolster our nation’s food security, reduce farmers’ reliance on expensive chemical inputs, and cement our position as a scientific superpower.

“Labour should not willingly sacrifice this progress in its desperate attempts to cosy up to the EU.

“If it is serious about economic growth, the government should go further to cut gene-editing red tape, not seek to add EU restrictions onto it.”

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