Reform would threaten ‘survivability’ of farmers with US trade deal, says Atkins

Reform UK would threaten Britain’s farming industry and undermine animal welfare by allowing chlorine-washed chicken into the country, a senior Conservative has said.

Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins vowed to “destroy” Reform’s policies, as she addressed a Conservative Environment Network meeting on the fringe of the Tory conference.

She dismissed Nigel Farage’s comparison of chlorinated chicken with chlorine-washed salad, saying: “Lettuce doesn’t poo.”

Mr Farage has previously said he would allow imports of chlorinated chicken as part of a trade deal with the US, saying it would be up to consumers to decide if they were willing to buy it.

And he has pointed to people’s willingness to buy bags of pre-mixed salad that has been washed in chlorine as evidence of its safety.

But on Tuesday, Ms Atkins said opening up a trade deal with the US would “enable foreign farmers to flood our UK market with chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated beef”.

She said this would not only affect the “survivability” of British farms, but also animal welfare.

She said: “Nigel Farage has focused on chlorine and said, ‘It’s all right, you can wash lettuce in chlorine’.

“Lettuce doesn’t poo, whereas chickens do.

“And if you have those sorts of standards, which we in this country, over decades now, have been proud to improve, and improve the conditions in which our livestock is kept, then you cannot look at chlorinated chicken and say that we’re prepared to step back so fundamentally in animal welfare.”