EU minister rejects food deal ‘treason’ claims

ACCUSATIONS of treason over a food and drink deal with the EU are “nonsense”; a Government minister has said, as he defended talks on a pact with the bloc due to begin in the autumn.

- PRESS ASSOCIATION REPORTERS

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the EU relations minister, rejected claims by Nigel Farage, and Kemi Badenoch's Tories, that the Government is surrendering sovereignty or freedoms, accusing them of offering only “easy answers and snake oil” when it comes to the UK-EU relationship.

The Government will begin detailed talks on the permanent sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS) deal in the coming months, Mr Thomas-Symonds told an event hosted by The Spectator magazine in London yesterday. A summit with the EU will be held next year, he added.

“We will then bring the legislation to Parliament to implement the deal. We will get that done by 2027, so businesses and consumers see the tangible impacts as soon as possible - money saved at the borders, profits freed up to invest, pounds kept in the pocket of working people”