Policy decisions made by the UK government after Brexit will be aligned with scientific evidence, Defra Secretary Michael Gove told National Farmers’ Union (NFU) members on Tuesday.

“We are always keeping pace with the best scientific advice,” Gove said at the organisation’s conference in Birmingham.

Re-authorisation of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, was met with political opposition in the EU last year, despite numerous scientific studies clearing the world’s most widely used herbicide of links to cancer.

Gove told NFU members on Tuesday that policy decisions in areas such as animal health, bovine TB eradication and Plant Protection Product (PPP) licencing would be backed up by scientific evidence in the UK.

“We recognise that glyphosate is an indispensable tool in min- and no-till cultivation. As long as the science justifies its continued use, then I will argue for its continued use,” he said.

The Defra Secretary said that he wanted all evidence used to guide policy decisions to be published. “People can interrogate the evidence and if they feel our interpretation of the evidence is wrong, then they can challenge us,” he added.

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Re-authorisation of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, has been met with political opposition in the European Union.