MONTGOMERYSHIRE'S MP says he has been assured personally by the Prime Minister that the UK will not accept chlorinated chicken from the US as part of a post-Brexit trade deal.

Craig Williams MP has told the County Times that he has spoken to the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, this week about the issue and has described national newspaper reports that food standards are to be lowered by US imports as "conjecture".

Those reports hint that striking a deal with the US will see lower-quality imports on supermarket shelves in the UK competing with homegrown produce from UK farmers.

But Mr Williams said: "I genuinely have spoken to the Prime Minister about this, this week, and was heartened by what he said.

"He has not said anywhere that we will be lowering standards. There are export bans in our legislation, legislation would have to be changed for imports, so those stories are conjecture.

"I, and other ministers, have been very clear in the House (of Commons), there will be export bans on chlorinated chicken, we will not be reducing standards, and there are multiple tools to protect our farmers in our legislation."

Reports in newspapers including the Daily Mail and the Financial Times claim that the trade deal could allow for products such as chlorinated chicken and hormone-injected beef, but that they would be subject to higher tariffs to prevent them from undercutting UK produce.

The Government has not denied the claims, but a spokesman for Mr Johnson is quoted as saying the Government "will not compromise on our high standards of food safety and animal welfare”.

Then-Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers said in January that the country would not be importing chlorinated chicken or hormone-treated beef.

Prior to the County Times speaking to Mr Williams, Montgomeryshire Plaid Cymru spokesman Elwyn Vaughan hit out at the reported deal, and hit out at Powys's MPs for voting against an amendment in the Agriculture Bill which would have banned food produced to lower standards from being included in trade deals.

He said: "Both farming unions, NFU and FUW and environmental organisations were united in supporting these amendments, yet our Powys MPs ignored the views and concerns of their electorate, to follow the party whip and benefit big American corporations at the expense of our traditional family farms."

And citing the latest national newspaper reports, he said of Mr Williams: "He went further and a pretence of an assurance at Westminster to try and alleviate concerns, merely to try and muddy the waters, when the reality is clear that the intentions and are well reported and will undermine our communities and our values.

"For this false action, I therefore call on our MP to apologise to our farming sector and stand up for our communities rather than be the lapdog for his party."