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Campaign groups including WWF-UK, Friends of the Earth and Compassion in World Farming joined Eating Better in producing the report, which urges the government to use Brexit as an opportunity to reshape the food and farming system.

Together the groups have published ten ‘key’ recommendations for the future of food production and farming.

“British livestock farmers cannot compete with other countries in a race to the bottom, and they shouldn’t try,” said Clare Oxborrow, chair of the Eating Better alliance.

“Brexit provides the opportunity to create, and promote, a high-standard Britain, one synonymous with globally leading production standards for animal welfare and the environment.

“It is this which should underpin our meat and dairy particularly for our crucial export markets, not a ‘bargain-bin Britain.’”

The report, called 'Beyond the CAP', suggests that the EU Common Agricultural Policy is ‘not fit for purpose’ and falls to address how environmental and climate change impacts on livestock farming.

It is also argued in the report that trade negotiations risk undermining UK standards of environmental protection, food safety and farm animal welfare.

Eating Better’s executive director, Sue Dibb, said: “We need to step off the treadmill of industrially produced livestock that comes at such a cost to animal welfare, our health and the environment.

“To do this we need a shift to healthier and sustainable eating patterns; with more plant-based foods, less meat and dairy products – particularly from intensive, industrial systems, and towards farming systems that produce ‘better ‘ meat and dairy to higher animal welfare and environmental standards. This need not cost consumers more.”

Click here to download and read the full 'Beyond the CAP: Policies to support better UK meat and dairy production post-Brexit' report- http://eating-better.org/uploads/Documents/2017/Beyond_the_CAP_report.pdf