House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee: Implications of the UK-Australia FTA for Wales

Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform (CER), told us that “there is very little substantive threat to Welsh farmers as of now. Of course, circumstances in the future could change and we could see a big uptick in Australian exports of agri-food products to the UK.”

...Sam Lowe, CER, stated that giving Australia tariff-free access was “a solid indication that the UK is willing to give substantial market access to potential third country FTA partners” and agreed that the “the UK would probably have to offer the same to New Zealand.”

...It will also mean that “both Brits and Australians under 35 will be able to travel and work in each other’s country for up to 3 years and remove the requirement for Brits to work on Australian farms as a condition of their visa”. Sam Lowe, CER, told us that these were “improvements”, and that Australia was “somewhere where people from Wales go to, come back, and feel some relationship with.”

Full report available here