We know we've said this before but they're still not grasping the point of trade

This is not a point specific to the shadow environment secretary, nor even to the Opposition. Far too many across the political spectrum manage to get this point wrong.

Luke Pollard, the shadow environment secretary, said: “It is unacceptable for the government to allow our high food standards to be compromised and our farmers undercut in any future trade deals.

The entire point of trade is to undercut the domestic producers. Just as the point of having market entry to to enable people to undercut extant producers. That’s all entirely the point of the activity.

What we call “trade” just being the extension of markets across national borders.

Imagine, just imagine, that there were one monopoly producer of some desired item. We’d all agree that it would be a good idea if other people were allowed to come in and start producing that item. Even where we wouldn’t - there are cases - we’d still agree that the consumer would benefit from such competition. The producers might not like it, they might even be worse off as a result, but consumers would gain.

This idea of trade is simply extending the same logic to what can be produced by foreigners. And the results are the same too. Domestic producers might not be very happy about it but consumers will benefit.

That is, the very point of the process concerning trade in food is to undercut those farmers.