The 14th report from the lord's EU Committee about food is a worrying read. The Committee took evidence from a wide range of organisations and experts and as far as I can see, without exception, they were all concerned about Brexit and how it would impact the cost and availability of food supplies. George Eustice, the Junior DEFRA Minister appeared to the committee to be utterly complacent, although they didn't actually say that. What they did say, among other things, was, "The Minister’s suggestion of minimal checks on EU imports appears at odds with the Government’s obligations under the WTO and its commitment to maintain food safety and animal welfare standards", which amounts to the same thing I think.
A few extracts from the report:
Half the UK’s food is imported: 30% comes from the EU, and another 11% comes from non-EU countries under the terms of trade deals negotiated by the EU
If an agreement cannot be negotiated, Brexit is likely to result in an average tariff
on food imports of 22%.
EU food imports cannot easily be replaced by either producing more in the
UK or importing more from non-EU countries
A number of organisations have, however, modelled what the impact of tariffs
on food prices might be. [..] the BRC [told us they]
had calculated the
likely increase in retail price attributable solely to tariffs was 5–29% for beef,
6–32% for cheddar cheese, 9–18% for tomatoes and 5–10% for broccoli.
As time has gone on Brexiteers surely must have noticed that this same scenario is playing out in every sector of the economy. Finance, manufacturing, aviation, fishing, etc, etc. What we had been told was either easy, cost-free or beneficial is turning out to be anything but, a pipe dream in fact.
Yet in public the Brexiteer ministers and MPs are still displaying the same blind, unquestioning confidence in Brexit that they had before the referendum. I am not convinced myself that they have the same confidence in private. You would have to be brain dead not to have some doubts, given the problems stacking up and the lack of any coherent plan. Yet, they breezily appear on TV or in front of select committees as if they haven't got a care in the world. This is quite amazing.
How long can they keep up the pretence that Brexit will be good for us?
