Any UK trade deal with Australia must not disadvantage Welsh farmers, Wales’ new Economy Minister has warned.

Vaughan Gething and Rural Affairs Minister Lesley Griffiths issued the warning amid reports of a deal containing possible zero-tariff market access for agriculture products between the two countries.

Such a deal, they say, would harm Welsh agriculture and food production because it would allow for lower standards of food to be imported into the UK.

Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said: “Farmers and food producers play a crucial role in our society, economy and environment.

"We have been very clear with the UK Government that any new trade deals must not cause an un-level playing field, by giving food importers with lower standards an economic advantage in our market compared to our own producers.”

Rural Affairs Minister, Lesley Griffiths added: "We are extremely proud of the high food safety standards we have here in Wales, including standards around animal health and welfare, traceability, environment and food safety.

"No trade agreement should ever undermine that or our domestic legislation and the Welsh Government has consistently made this point to the UK Government."

The views have also been echoed by the Farmers' Union of Wales, which warned that the deal could be "severely damaging to UK farming and food production".

FUW President Glyn Roberts said: “In our view the British and Welsh public agree with our commitment to animal welfare and environmental standards and they would support our call for access to UK markets to be restricted to products that can match our strict standards.

“Our own administrations are busily ratcheting up controls and restrictions for farmers which are already well above those required in countries such as Australia, so the prospect of deals that liberalise imports of food from such places produced in ways which would be illegal here in the UK is unacceptable and hypocritical.”

Responding to suggestions by the Centre for European Reform think-tank that the effects of an Australian deal were exaggerated because exports volumes were currently small, Mr Roberts said that this ‘completely missed the point’.

“The whole point of a new trade deal is that it changes the situation, so using current export volumes to justify or defend a deal is completely misleading – the issue is about future volumes, and if the Australians did not believe these would grow significantly under a deal they would not be negotiating hard to get them included,” he said.