Brexit adds £6bn in two years to UK Food Bills due to this reason. Details here

The latest reports have shown that the UK food bill has seen an enhancement of £6bn due to Brexit. Additionally, the food importation cost from the EU has become relatively high due to the use of extra red tape. Thus, the poorest people are getting affected the most. The food bill of a typical household is increased by nearly 210 pounds in 2022 compared to the last two years, say the researchers of LSE or the London School of Economics. And what is the reason behind this? Well, the answer is Brexit!

As you all know, a bigger portion of low-income families’ income goes into food bills. Thus, the effect of Brexit was greater for them.

The cost of basic things like coffee, eggs, or dairy products has increased a lot. Thus, the price inflation of foods rose to 12.4 per cent in November, which was very high, as per the British Retail Consortium Trade Body.

What did the researchers find?

The cost of food items increased by 3 per cent a year after leaving the EU or European Union, which increased the food cost by almost 6 per cent between 2020 and 2022.

So, what did happen because of this inflation?

According to the Center for Economic Performance or CEP, this increase has increased the living cost for poor people by 1.1 -52%.
77% of the food products came from the EU before the referendum, that is, in 2015. But, after the election of 2019, food prices started to rise very fast. While red meat products had a higher NTB or non-tariff barrier cost, veggies like broccoli, onions, and carrots had almost zero NTB. Thus, the regulatory costs started to vary according to products.

FAQs

What is Brexit?
Brexit was the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union at 23:00 GMT as on 31 January 2020.

What amount has Brexit added to UK food bills?
£6bn