Top Tory dismisses fears on increased food costs as 'price you pay' for Brexit

31 January 2024 , 11:19

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Dame Andrea Leadsom said increased checks are the 'price' businesses pay for Brexit (Image: NurPhoto/PA Images)

A top Tory has said extra red tape and costs for businesses are the "price" the UK must pay to be a "sovereign state again" after Brexit.

Former leadership contender Dame Andrea Leadsom said businesses will have to "adapt" after new checks on food, drink and agricultural imports came into force. It comes as new polling suggests seven in 10 Brits thinks Brexit has had a negative effect on the economy.

The Government estimates that new checks will cost businesses an extra £330million a year and increase food inflation by 0.2% over three years. Industry bosses have also warned about disruption in supply chains.

Dame Andrea, a former business secretary, said traders knew in 2016 that Brexit would mean leaving the European single market. "There was no surprise about that," she told Sky News. Asked about a florist who said they would now struggle to import flowers from the Netherlands, she appeared to suggest they should instead buy from the "many parts of the United Kingdom that are flower growers".

She continued: "Leaving the single market was always going to have implications... I'm just saying that businesses need to adapt to meet the changing environment." And she later told Times Radio: "There is a huge new opportunity for the UK at the same time as continuing to trade, albeit with some friction (with the EU), which is the price you pay for leaving the single market and for being a sovereign state again.

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"For me as a Brexiteer, I am still absolutely convinced that this is the right thing to do." An IPSOS poll of more than 1,000 people found just 13% of the public believe Brexit has been a success, while 57% think it's been more a failure than a success.

Seven out of 10 under-35s consider Brexit more of a failure - while even among over-55s 42% think it is more of a failure, compared to 21% who think it was a success.

Under the new post-Brexit system, dubbed the Border Target Operating Model, health checks on foods arriving at Dover will be carried out at a facility in Sevington. Goods from Britain have faced similar controls from the EU since it left the bloc's single market at the start of 2021, but the UK has repeatedly put off checks in the other direction.

By April 30, medium-risk animal products from the EU will undergo documentary, identity and physical checks. From October 31, safety and security declarations for EU imports will become mandatory.

Dave Burke