London negotiated the "worst trade deals in the world" after the UK's exit from the EU, claimed the founder of Save British Farming.
ADVERTISEMENTFarmers in the UK protested against pro-Brexit rules and trade deals on Monday, claiming they are threatening their livelihoods and food security.
To the sound of car horns, Save British Farming and Fairness for Farmers drove tractors in slow-motion through south London towards Parliament Square, where supporters awaited.
Displaying signs that read "no farmers, no food, no future", the protesters called on the government to end trade deals they say allow imports of food produced to standards that would be illegal in the UK and undercut local farmers.
"They're not telling the truth," said the founder of Save British Farming Liz Webster when asked by a BBC News reporter what she would say to claims by the government it backs farmers.
"They negotiated trade deals which literally see us slaughtered," she continued. "They're the worst trade deals in the world."
"We have been totally and utterly let down by this government," Webster added. "We are demanding change."
The UK's exit from the EU has significantly affected its agriculture. Taking the country outside the bloc's free trade zone and web of rules has left farmers grappling with bureaucratic headaches, exporting difficulties and labour shortages.
A Euronews report in 2021 found that sparkling wine producers in the UK had resorted to using voluntary labour to pick grapes, owing to a sizeable reduction in migrant labourers coming to England due to Brexit. The COVID pandemic also played a role.
British farmers largely supported Brexit, opposing the EU’s much-criticised Common Agricultural Policy.
Many now say post-Brexit trade deals between the UK and countries like Australia and New Zealand have opened the door to cheap imports they cannot compete with.
Organisers of the protest have also slammed labelling that allows products to bear a Union flag when they have not been grown or reared in the country.
Mass farmers' protests have gripped countries across the EU. Farmers in Poland, France and Germany have demonstrated against what claim is cumbersome bureaucracy, Brussels' environmental policies and unfair foreign competition.
They claim they are being driven to bankruptcy - something echoed by the British.
Public opinion in the UK on Brexit has soured over time, according to several polls.
A recent survey by Opinium found a clear majority of Brits now believe withdrawing from the European Union in 2020 was bad for the country's economy.
The poll of more than 2,000 UK voters also revealed strikingly low numbers of people thinking Brexit has benefited them or the country.