SCOTTISH Secretary Alister Jack has rejected claims by a former cabinet colleague that the post-Brexit trade agreement struck with Australia is “not actually a very good deal for the UK.”

Earlier this month, George Eustice, the former Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs delivered a scathing verdict on the deal he helped negotiate. 

He claimed that in their rush to get an agreement over the line the UK government had ultimately given away too much. 

Giving evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee, Mr Jack said the deals would “stand the test of time.”

Lord Malcolm Offord, the Parliamentary Under Secretary in the Scotland Office, dismissed criticism of the agreement as “scaremongering.”

The deal, agreed in principle last June, was hailed by former prime minister Boris Johnson as a "new dawn" for the UK’s trading relationship with the two countries.

He said it represented "global Britain at its best – looking outwards and striking deals that deepen our alliances and help ensure every part of the country builds back better from the pandemic."

However, last month, Mr Eustice told the Commons there had been “failures” made in the talks. 

He said: “The UK went into this negotiation holding the strongest hand, holding all of the best cards, but at some point in early summer 2021, the then trade secretary [Liz Truss] took a decision to set an arbitrary target to conclude heads of terms by the time of the G7 summit, and from that moment the UK was on the back foot repeatedly.

“In fact, at one point the then trade secretary asked her opposite number from Australia what he would need in order to be able to conclude an agreement by G7, and of course the Australian negotiator very kindly set out the Australian terms, which then shaped eventually the deal.”

He said the UK had “given away far too much for far too little in return” during talks.

Asked about Mr Eustice’s comment, Mr Jack told MPs: “I believe those trade deals are good. I believe they'll stand the test of time. 

“I was in the room when I delivered safeguards for beef and lamb and I will stand by those safeguards which do have numbers attached to them. 

“So I stand by the trade deals, and I believe they will be good for Australia and New Zealand, who are obviously close friends of ours. And I think they'll be very good for the United Kingdom and for Scottish farmers.”

Asked by the SNP’s Deidre Brock what he made of his former cabinet colleague’s comments, Mr Jack told the committee: “He's very welcome to say that but I was in the meetings that he was in and I felt that the safeguards that I wanted for beef and lamb - and I've done that in consultation with farmers, I wasn't flying blind - and I went into those meetings and pushed hard for that and made sure it was a negotiating red line for us.

“The then prime minister supported me and those safeguards were delivered.”

Lord Offord said: “Just on the farming point specifically, I think there has been some scaremongering around that because under current WTO terms, Ozzie and Kiwi farmers have access to our market tariff-free already and they take up half the quarter they are allocated. 

"I think it's less than half of 1% that they actually send to these shores. They have much bigger markets and more profitable markets much closer than the UK, where we're 10,000 miles away. 

“So I don't think we need to see that as a major threat. I think the opposite is that we've got a major opportunity now to do exporting from Scottish companies

“Our two major exports, as you know, are salmon and Scotch whisky and they account for together 20% of all UK food and drink exports. 

“Once again an example where Scotland punches above our weight with 8% of the population, but behind that stat there is another stat which is only 5% of Scottish companies actually export. 

“And that's a very low number and a significantly below 8% population. And I think now one we've got a concerted effort going with the Department of Trade and also working with SDI. 

“We've a real opportunity to boost trade export from Scottish companies. I think that more than outweights any scare stories.”