ACTIVISTS dressed as chickens turned up at International Trade Secretary Liam Fox’s surgery yesterday to show him that his own constituents strongly oppose his plans for a trade deal with the United States.

An overwhelming majority of the 558 people in North Somerset who responded to a poll carried out by Survation for campaign group Global Justice Now said they do not want US food standards to be adopted here.

A huge 88 per cent are opposed to cattle being injected with hormones, 84 per cent are against the use of ractopamine in pig feed and 65 per cent do not want to eat chlorine-washed chicken.

Ractopamine is banned in 160 countries, including China, Russia and Taiwan as well as European nations, over its links to serious health problems.

The poll of Mr Fox’s constituents also found that 63 per cent oppose allowing US corporations to bid for NHS contracts.

Global Justice Now says that these contracts could be enforced by a “corporate court” system or investor-state dispute settlement process, enabling foreign companies to sue governments for regulations they believe to be “unfair” and profit-limiting.

Mr Fox is pushing for deeper trade relations with the US, whose negotiators are expected to demand conformity with US food standards and public-sector contract rules as part of any deal.  

The British and US governments have had at least three secret meetings to discuss post-Brexit trade since the EU referendum.

Global Justice Now's Guy Taylor said: “Liam Fox is staking all his hopes for a successful Brexit on a trade deal with the US, but that trade deal will come with strings attached.

“The US administration has been crystal clear that they expect hormone-filled, chlorine-washed meat to flow into British markets under such a trade deal.

“And we also know that allowing massive US multinationals to run contracted-out parts of the NHS will be a given in any trade deal.

“What we’ve discovered today is that Fox’s own constituents, who mostly vote Conservative and were split on Brexit, are deeply opposed to this kind of US trade deal.

“What worries us most is that, as things stand, Parliament has no right to oversee Fox’s secret negotiations with Trump’s administration.

“Nor can MPs stop him signing away our food standards or undermining our NHS. This must change.”