Gene editing can be a game-changer for our farmers, scientific community, and the environment by using science to speed up the benefits of selective breeding.
Using gene editing we can protect our crops from climate change, help reduce our reliance on expensive and polluting chemicals, and unlock bountiful business opportunities.
Brexit meant that the last Conservative government could bypass EU delay, cut red tape and allow UK scientists to spearhead gene editing technology.
Our half-century membership of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy was disastrous for our countryside, slashing biodiversity and accelerating climate change.
Having left the EU we have started to repair the damage, with public money now being focussed on improving agricultural investment and techniques so that nature can flourish as we grow more.
And with war in Europe we need food security more than ever.
Precision breeding techniques, like gene editing, can play a critical role in securing our increasingly exposed domestic supply of food, protecting farmers’ crops and offering a unique economic opportunity in the process.
Plant breeding already increases our yields by 1% per year.
As time progresses, making our crops more resistant to more pests and diseases will be integral to our efforts to mitigate against the impacts of climate change.
Equally, precision breeding of animals can improve their welfare.
Reducing the need for antibiotics, resistance to which is regarded by many as the next big societal challenge we will need to confront, can also put the UK on the front foot.
Embracing gene editing will lower our reliance on field sprays and additives too. This can help improve water quality by reducing the volume of damaging chemicals flowing into our watercourses.
That is why the Conservatives passed the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act back in 2023.
Free from the EU’s unnecessary red tape, we liberalised the law on gene editing, empowering businesses and farmers to develop and deploy this cutting-edge technology.
The legislative framework was set, but the general election came before the full regulations could be finalised.
Labour needs to finish the job, but there is a huge risk that their determination to cosy up to the EU means that they will sacrifice our progress and handcuff innovators by returning to the EU’s deadening approach to gene editing regulation.
There is a risk the EU insists on ‘dynamic alignment’, where the UK would have to adopt the same regulations as the EU single market.
This would render our gene editing reforms and other post-Brexit dynamism on food regulations redundant.
Any Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards Agreement (SPS) that the UK enters into with the EU should not come at the expense of the progress we have made on gene-editing.
This should be a red line in any government negotiations.
Plant breeding already contributes £1 billion annually in additional value to our economy. Think of how much can be unlocked if we go the whole hog with gene-editing.
With growth being the magic word for the government and food security a top five priority for the Environment Secretary, DEFRA has rightly recognised the opportunities of gene editing and committed to deliver the required secondary legislation.
We cannot let Labour’s ideological hostility to Brexit undermine farming’s future in the UK.
