Starmer warned his EU love-in is bugging farmers as red tape cuts allowing them to feed livestock eco-friendly insects and human food waste are held up while Labour woos Brussels

By DAVID WILCOCK, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 11:16, 8 July 2026 | Updated: 11:19, 8 July 2026 Keir Starmer's move to push the UK and EU into closer harmony is harming British farming and the countryside by delaying vital cuts to red tape, Labour was warned today. Proposals to relax rules to allow livestock to be fed insects and food waste in order to cut costs and improve farmland have been postponed pending the results of a new food and plants agreement with Brussels. Currently up to 40 per cent of arable farmland in the UK is used to grow animal feed using thousands of tonnes of pesticides. After a consultation earlier this year Defra confirmed it would ease rules put in place after the BSE crisis more than 30 years ago which remain in place despite huge strides in animal testing and fewer than five cases in the past decade.  But it said the change cannot happen while the negotiations with Brussels continue and the resignation of Sir Keir Starmer and expected replacement with Andy Burnham means that the process could be further delayed. A new report today by the Conservative Environment Network also warns that the deal on a common sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) area - which would apply to the movement of flora and fauna - could also see the UK follow the bloc's rules on gene-editing, stymying attempts to produce higher-yield plants. 'Farmers should be free to take action to protect their incomes and the environment', it argues. 'Whilst the most egregious EU regulations ... have been abolished, regulatory reform must continue.  Proposals to relax rules to allow livestock to be fed insects and food waste in order to cut costs and improve farmland have been postponed Sir Keir is currently trying to do a deal with Brussels over the movement of animals and plants in and out of the EU and UK 'There are more than 3,000 environmental regulations, which sit alongside planning and scientific regulations.  'Whilst any one regulation may seem sensible, the totality prevents farmers from having the flexibility to manage their land to better protect their incomes and restore our natural heritage.' As well as allowing farmed insects to be fed to livestock the liberalisation would also allow some animal proteins to be fed to species less affected by the disease, including pigs and poultry, meaning more food waste could be recycled while keeping other restrictions in place. CEN said the changes would cut the cost of feed for farmers while cutting emissions and creating new natural habitats. It argued that the majority of the 10million tonnes of food waste produced annually in the UK is currently unusable and is simply thrown away. The idea of making better use of food waste has also been championed by the World Wildlife Fund, which argued it would free up land to grow crops for humans as well. And last year a report by the Wildlife Trusts estimated that some 520,000 to 580,000 hectares of wheat grown in the UK is needed for feed for pigs and poultry, equivalent to 34-38 per cent of the country’s total wheat crop, with an associated use of 2,621 tonnes of pesticides including fungicides.  In January, following a consultation, Defra said it planned to relax feed rules. But it added: 'We will now not be making these changes independently and will do so instead in a future process where the UK implements an SPS agreement with the EU.' It has been approached to comment.