Focus on quality not weakened regulation post-Brexit, Gove tells farmers

Quality and provenance must be the future of the British food industry, rather than lowering regulation or welfare standards, says environment secretary

The future of the British food industry after Brexit must focus on quality and provenance rather than weakened regulation, environment secretary Michael Gove has said.

"The future for British food is in quality and provenance and traceability and competing at the top of the value chain," Gove told a packed auditorium at the Oxford Real Farming Conference. "And if we sign trade deals or lower our regulation or welfare standards in a way that means we're no longer at the top of the value chain, then we undermine the growing strength of the very best of British food production."