Cheap New Zealand lamb threat to Teesdale farmers, claims MP Helen Goodman

HILL farmers in Teesdale could be put out of business from cheap New Zealand lamb imports after Brexit, the area’s MP claims.
Helen Goodman put the concern to environment secretary Andrea Leadsom in the House of Commons last week.
Ms Goodman asked her to guarantee income support systems for hill farmers, some of whom were said to be earning just £14,000 a year.
Ms Leadsom said subsidies would continue until 2020 and that the government would look closely at what aid was needed after that.
Ms Goodman stressed the importance of considering the impact of future trade negotiations on hill farmers in her constituency, highlighting the risk posed by a “flood of cheap New Zealand lamb that will put them out of business”.
After the debate, the MP said: “Brexit has meant a fall in sterling which will raise inflation. Ministers are worried about this and scrabbling around.
“They think that cheap food imports would be a solution, irrespective of the adverse impact on farmers. Andrea Leadsom provided no comfort this morning to our hard-working farmers worried about their futures.”
Earlier, Ms Leadsom told MPs that hill farmers play a critical role not just in producing high-quality food but in “delivering environmental benefits for all the public in our beautiful landscapes”.
She added: “Leaving the EU gives us a great opportunity to look again at their contribution to delivering our very clear twin ambitions to have both a world-leading food and farming industry and, at the same time, a better environment for future generations.”
Ms Goodman replied that paying for environmental goods will only work as a strategy if the hill farms are financially viable
She added: “Can she [Ms Leadsom] guarantee that in future trade negotiations she will not allow a flood of cheap New Zealand lamb that will put them out of business?”
The environment secretary said that pillar one subsidy payments would remain until 2020. The minister added: “We have committed to our consultation on the future of the food and farming sector in our 25-year plan, and that will look closely at the level of support that is needed.
“I absolutely agree that we will need to look at what we do for the future to ensure that hill farmers remain viable and sustainable.”
Tory MP Richard Benyon said that now was a real opportunity to create a system of rural support that is bespoke to the UK.
“Giving ministers the opportunity to move the money up the hill to protect those who are clinging on economically is an opportunity that I hope she [Ms Leadsom] will grasp.”
Tim Farron, Cumbrian MP and leader of the Liberal Democrats, asked if MPs or the chairman of the Rural Payments Agency would tolerate waiting 13-and-a-half months for their salary cheque to arrive.
“Yet that is what 50 hill farmers have had to do as they wait for their December 2015 single farm payments. Hundreds more waited up to a year to get their payments,” Mr Farron said.
The National Sheep Association (NSA) last week warned that the government’s decision to pursue “hard Brexit” presents a huge risk to the UK sheep industry.
The body says this is due to the likely combination of disruption to existing trade structures, the reliance of the meat processing sector on migrant labour, and competition from free trade deals.