Food price hike warning amid fears over UK and EU single markets

Scots face the prospect of further food price hikes if the final Brexit deal means a “divergence” from internal market rules in the EU or across the UK.

The Scottish Government is locked in a constitutional stand-off with Westminster over the repatriation of powers from Brussels amid concerns it will undermine devolution. The Scottish Retail Consortium has now warned any “divergence from the status quo in either the UK or EU single markets risks “increasing costs for consumers”.

Shoppers have already been hit by rising supermarket prices as the value of sterling nosedived after Brexit hitting import costs.

SRC policy chief Ewan Macdonald-russell said it was up to politicians to “thrash out” where powers will lie.

“We absolutely recognise the UK and Scottish governments may want to make decisions which are different from the EU, and indeed from time to time each other,” he said.

“However, it’s important to make clear such decisions, which create divergence from the status quo in either the UK or EU single markets, run the risks of increasing costs for consumers, and should only be undertaken when there are significant benefits to doing so.”