When asked about a no-deal Brexit’s effect on food prices on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show a few days ago, Environment Secretary Chris Grayling didn’t deny that the subsequent higher tariffs would make imported foodstuffs much more expensive.
His answer to that?
He seems to believe that British farmers can simply grow more food at home to compensate.
Given that we have no idea what compensation, if any, British farmers will receive for lost EU subsidies, and that migrant workers to do the extra work will most likely be very thin on the ground, this seems like wishful thinking.
And, in effect, farming unions have since spoken out and said just that.
Britain’s future food security is surely of paramount importance yet, as on so many other fronts, little constructive progress is being made on future trading arrangements as the clock ticks down to the UK’s formal withdrawal from the European Union.
Being in the business of facilitating the importation of food into any and all European countries from the rest of the world (and particularly North America, where major cross-border trade agreements are also up for scrutiny), TradeScope is watching all developments very closely indeed.
If you’d like to know what we know when we know, contact Ted Horton for a chat.