No-deal will leave ministers facing tough food choices
In a no-deal Brexit the UK government faces a stark choice on fresh foods such as fruit, vegetables, meat products and dairy–protect consumers from price rises or shield the coun - try’ sf armers from tarif f-free imports, a former Conservative trade minister has warned.
Lord Mark Price, who is also the former boss of supermarket chain Waitrose and currently chairs Fair Trade UK warned that unlike packets or tins, fresh food could not be stockpile din the run-up to a nodeal Brexit.
He was commenting on a report in the medical journal The Lancet which said that government modelling of the effects of a no - deal Brexit which showed that there could be price rises and shortages of fresh food had not been shared with the public.
Price said that if the UK was forced to switch to WTO rules on October 31, the government would need to decide if it would implement its tariff schedules:
“That would clearly not be good for the consumer but it would protect our farmers,” he told Radio 4’s Today programme.
Alternatively, he said, the government could remove tariffs altogether – but they would have to do this for trade with all regions of the world – not just Europe:
“If they do that, then clearly UK farmers are going to come under pressure from goods coming in which are less expensive - but will still have tariffs applied to the food which they export.
“The difficult choice for the government is going to be, do we look after the consumer, or do we look after the farmer? And they’re tough things to square.”
The Lancet report, drawn up by Professor Tim Lang of the Centre for Food Policy at City University of London, said that with 28 per cent of the country’ s food coming directly from the EU while another 11 per cent comes in through trade deals organised by Europe, the public should be informed of what government calculations which were currently being kept under wraps showed could lie ahead.
“These estimates have not been shared with the public. Yet it is the public whose dietary options are now expected to bed isrupted.
“Disruption and shortages are predicted for fruit, vegetables, and short shelflife food supplies that rely on imports,” said Lang.
He said that predictions that food prices would rise by 10 per cent were likely to be an underestimate as delays to just-in-time logistics and the plummeting value of sterling would hit as hard as tariffs:
“No public advice has been given yet on how this might restrict current dietary health advice ,” said Lang, warning that the UK already under consumed fruit and vegetables.