Liz Truss has refused to enshrine animal welfare in trade deals, says minister
Liz Truss has refused to recognise the importance of animal welfare in post-Brexit trade deals, the environment secretary has said.
George Eustice was speaking at the Conservative Environment Network Tory leadership hustings on behalf of Rishi Sunak, and said he faced “challenges” in trying to get Truss to enshrine animal welfare in trade deals.
He said: “He’s got a position that I am much more comfortable with than I suspect will be the position with Liz Truss, and that is the position on international trade: he has made it clear that we shouldn’t compromise on animal welfare standards.
“It is fair to say there were some challenges I had in getting Liz Truss to recognise the importance of animal welfare in particular and that we should reflect it in trade agreements.”
The hustings was a tempestuous affair, with the international environment minister, Zac Goldsmith, representing Truss. Goldsmith claimed Sunak never showed up to climate-related cabinet meetings as chancellor and said he tried to trim funds for international wildlife programmes.
“I do worry based on my experience what a Rishi administration would look like,” Goldsmith said: “Rishi never once attended a single climate cabinet. He simply couldn’t even give a quote for a dusty old government press release when the Dasgupta review [into the economics of biodiversity] came out.”
Goldsmith said this was “hugely disappointing”, adding: “There were many times when I have had to fight back efforts from the Treasury who wanted to trim back the international nature budget.”
Neither candidate attended the hustings, instead submitting written statements. Truss said she was an “environmentalist before it was cool” and recommitted to implementing a British nature survey, and
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