That the statement was made is fact. That is why I quoted Hansard. Separately, the statement that "people are saying this in private" may or may not be true, and whether the job losses will occur is a third thing, quite distinct from the first two.

But all that, and many of the responses so far, are not really relevant to my question. For example, cheaper food, should it arrive, will undercut the farming industry and that would lead to job losses. Professor Mitford, for one, is quite relaxed about that. I got the impression earlier that so was Iains, but if he wants to correct me, please do.

So that was the heart of my question. What is the trade off, if any, between the freedom to set your own rules and risk to jobs?