A cross-party parliamentary inquiry has begun on the impact the government’s post-Brexit trade policy has had and will have, on farmers.

As the UK looks to sign further international trade deals, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee launched a wide-ranging inquiry into the negotiations. Since leaving the EU, the government has signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with Australia and New Zealand, however these have been heavily criticised by industry leaders and politicians over their impact on the domestic farming sector.

The government has also either signed, or is negotiating further agreements with the free trading bloc known as the CPTPP, Canada, the Gulf Co-operation Council and India. The EFRA committee is launching its inquiry to assess the 'strategic and economic coherence' of the government’s approach to international trade.

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MPs who sit on EFRA will also weigh the positive and negative impacts of agreements made so far and the opportunities and risks of those to come, and will explore the role trade policy should play in protecting and improving standards for food, animal welfare and environmental protections.

It will also consider the impact trade policy has had and will potentially have, on the security, quality and affordability of the UK’s food supply.

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The chair of EFRA, Sir Robert Goodwill, said: "We need to balance the advantages of agreements against their disadvantages, particularly when it comes to agriculture and food. “We need to look into how a particular deal might affect consumers, farmers and food processors.

"And we need to be aware of how the various deals interact with each other – what their cumulative impact is on the food and farming sector," he said.