Keir Starmer risks throwing away major Brexit benefit to ‘cuddle up to the EU’

Sir Keir Starmer has been warned that his plan to sign Britain up to the EU’s rules risks throwing away a major Brexit opportunity. The previous Tory government passed a law paving the way for gene-edited food in England, which supporters argue would help the cost-of-living crisis and boost food security.

But the Prime Minister’s food trade agreement with the EU could mean the UK is forced to copy the bloc’s stricter rules on gene editing. Tory MP Jerome Mayhew, of the Conservative Environment Network (CEN), said: “The Iran war is impacting our fertiliser supply, and it will be farmers and consumers who face the consequences through skyrocketing prices.

“Gene editing is a new technology that can unlock huge improvements in our ability to grow better food with less fertiliser.

“Taking advantage of a Brexit benefit, the last Conservative government passed legislation to allow the powerful new tech in which British experts have a world lead.

“But Labour risks sacrificing our nascent gene-editing industry to cuddle up to the EU.

“By once again aping EU regulations in this area, ministers would bring back overprotective, unnecessary red tape, severely undermining the benefits that this £1billion industry could bring our nation.”

Fellow Conservative MP George Freeman described the change in the law on gene editing as a “real Brexit dividend”.

He added: “The Iran war is massively disrupting food, fertiliser and agrochemical supply chains, leaving farmers and consumers open to soaring prices and the risk of shortages of imported food.

“UK gene editing is a potential £1billion technology sector with huge investment and export potential.

“Giving up hard-won UK freedoms to pioneer advanced crop breeding as part of closer alignment with the EU rules, without securing EU support for this technology, would be a huge mistake.”

Gene editing technology is fairly new and involves tweaking a plant’s DNA to make changes that could occur naturally.

CEN director John Flesher said: “Leaving the EU provided Britain’s gene editing industry with significant regulatory advantages. It would be a huge mistake for the Government to throw these away.

“Thanks to legislation passed by the last Conservative government, the UK has a world-leading framework for agricultural gene-editing, allowing precision breeding and with a streamlined approvals process.

“This should be a significant boost to our food security, the resilience of our crops, and the prices that consumers pay.

“Instead of giving powers back to Brussels, ministers should be looking at ways to go further, freeing gene-editing from more red tape and allowing British farmers and consumers to reap the rewards.”

It comes as the Prime Minister wants to sign the UK up to EU red tape under so-called Henry VIII powers.

A new law set to be unveiled in the King’s Speech next month would allow single market rules to be adopted through secondary legislation, which cannot be amended and is usually rubber-stamped without a normal vote by MPs.