Pub boss: Food and drink will be cheaper

Philip Hammond appears before MPs to discuss ‘divorce bill’ WETHERSPOON boss Tim Martin claims food and drink will be cheaper after Brexit because of a cut in tariffs.

Giving evidence to the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, he calculated that he could take 0.5p off drinks and 3.5p off an average meal.

The pub-chain chairman said that Brussels levies high tariffs on food from outside the EU but after Brexit they could be scrapped.

He said: “I think that we should decide as a country to eliminate tariffs on food, which we are entitled to do under World Trade Organisation rules.

Possible

Mr Martin attacked Sainsbury’s and the CBI among others for suggesting that, if there is no deal, high tariffs would apply to Britain.

He said: “That is not true. It is possible for Parliament to reduce food prices in the UK if we have no deal.”

Mr Martin said having no tariffs on food was “counter intuitive”, especially if the EU applies them to Britain. But he argued: “Particularly with food, it is the right thing to do.”

He pointed out that the tariff-free food policy has been pursued in Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia, which he described as “very successful economies”.

Mr Martin appeared to win over Labour MP John Grogan, who admitted to being a “hopeless Remainer but impressed by the clarity of Tim’s evidence”.