Lamb to the slaughter: Government warns Brexit is a baaaad idea for the UK sheep industry
The government has warned Britons that Brexit would trigger and economic meltdown, leaving each household £4,300 worse off a year, just as an an "electric shock" sends energy costs up by at least half a billion pounds.
Read more: Brexit wouldn't cause a "profound shock" – but would be a positive change of direction for Britain
But it looks like there's a new concern keeping the doomsayers over at Downing Street up at night. It appears that the fourth horseman of the impending apocalypse takes a rather softer, more fluffy form — namely, sheep. Or the UK's sheep industry, anyway.
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs issued a (rather woolly) statement urging Britons not to throw lambs to the slaughter when they go to the polls next month. It said a leave vote would pose a "major threat" to sheep farming, as well as the British lamb industry.
"Without the benefits the industry enjoys from our membership of the EU the very future of this iconic industry could be under threat," Elizabeth Truss, environment secretary, warned.
Read more: Brexit would be as bad for families as the financial crisis
"The single market is essential for British lamb – 40 per cent of all the lamb reared in the UK goes to Europe. Outside the EU, farmers could face quotas and tariffs as well as a red tape double whammy of having to follow both UK and EU rules."