Australian minister in charge of post-Brexit trade deal with UK attacks Government's plans for food quotas

Trade minister Steven Ciobo said UK proposals to split favourable quotas on food imports with Brussels were 'not acceptable' for other nations

UK trade plans to share out quotas for cheap food imports after Brexit have been condemned by Australia for imposing unacceptable restrictions on other nations.

Trade minister Steven Ciobo, who is in charge of talks over a UK-Australia trade deal, hit out at Government proposals to divide up with Brussels the numbers of goods that can be brought in on positive tariffs based roughly on current rates.

Mr Ciobo said the UK’s quota-splitting plan would hit other nations exporting to the European Union amid concerns from other countries including the United States, New Zealand, Canada and Brazil.

His comments are likely to concern ministers, as securing favourable trade deals with nations outside of Europe is a key plank of the Government’s Brexit strategy.

Mr Ciobo told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “In essence it’s not acceptable and the reason it’s not acceptable is because as the EU has expanded over the years, there hasn’t been a commensurate increase in the tariff rate quotas.”

He added: “The point is that you have a choice about where you place your quota at the moment.

“Therefore, given that you could put it in the UK or you could put it into continental Europe, why would we accept a proposition that would see a decline in the quota available because of the Brexit decision?”

It comes after International Trade Secretary Liam Fox was ridiculed over claims that British businesses were harming the economy because they do not want to export their goods abroad.

His Labour counterpart Barry Gardiner said Dr Fox had been warned that the deal could cause a row and that countries raising objections “have a point”.

“We warned the Secretary of State Liam Fox about this a number of months ago and he said this was going to be very easy because it was not going to make any changes in the current total quota that the EU has,” he told the BBC.

He also cautioned against accepting higher amounts of low-tariff imports of products such as lamb because of the impact it would have on UK farmers and the countryside.

Liberal Democrat trade spokesman Tom Brake said: "Yet again the Government has been warned that isolating ourselves from the EU is not the straightforward panacea dreamt of by Brextremists.

"There are real concerns that the UK is going to struggle to strike any deals that come remotely close to the benefits we enjoy as a member of the EU. This is another reason why the British public must have a vote on the terms of this messy divorce, including the option of an exit from Brexit."

A Department for International Trade spokesman said: “As we leave the EU, we will need to update the terms of our World Trade Organisation membership to reflect an independent UK trade policy.

“We want to ensure a smooth transition which minimises the disruption to our trading relationships with other WTO members and tariff rate quotas are one of the issues that we are discussing with them.

“This is largely a technical process and we will continue to engage WTO members including Australia in an open, inclusive and transparent way.”