Brexit added £210 to household food bills, LSE says

Brexit has added £210 to the mean household nutrient measure successful the 2 years to the extremity of 2021, caller probe suggests.

Academics astatine the London School of Economics recovered that the outgo of nutrient imported from Europe went up due to the fact that of other reddish portion and checks.

It said that the changes for items going crossed the borderline had pushed nutrient prices up by 6% to £5.84bn overall.

Price rises deed poorest households hardest due to the fact that they walk much of their wage packets connected food, it added.

But it noted 1 payment seen since Brexit was reduced contention for nutrient producers successful Britain.

The BBC has contacted the Department for International Trade for comment.

Researchers astatine its Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) looked astatine information tracking the travel of commercialized and prices of nutrient products betwixt the UK and the European Union (EU) to enactment retired however shoppers were being affected by the UK's exit.

Their calculations sought to isolate the effects of Brexit and abstracted them retired from different proviso concatenation issues that caused disruption during the pandemic.

It blamed the summation successful nutrient prices connected a emergence successful "non-tariff barriers" connected commercialized betwixt the UK and the EU, which see things similar caller customs checks astatine the borders, caller paperwork requirements and broader measures affecting the question of animals and plants.

Although the other checks didn't travel into unit until 2021, 1 of its co-authors Nikhil Datta said it was apt firms made "anticipatory" changes astir the "hard Brexit" pursued by erstwhile Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Mr Datta added that these non-tariff barriers should beryllium a "first-order concern" for politicians and policymakers.

Its paper besides looked astatine costs progressive with mounting up for caller systems, specified arsenic hiring specializer unit to beryllium capable to negociate the commercialized of products that are taxable to much checks.

The CEP suggested that betwixt 50% and 88% of terms rises seen by these EU exporters and UK importers were being passed connected to customers.

Richard Davies, a prof astatine the University of Bristol and co-author of the study, said: "Many factors, affecting some proviso and request for goods and services, are involved. One origin successful this precocious ostentation has been the emergence successful non-tariff barriers for commercialized with the EU.

"In leaving the EU, the UK swapped a heavy commercialized narration with fewer impediments to commercialized for 1 wherever a wide scope of checks, forms and steps are required earlier goods tin transverse the border," helium added.

The study says that instantly aft the December 2019 wide election, nutrient prices from the EU spiked arsenic businesses reliant connected products and ingredients from the bloc started to walk costs on.

The terms rises varied according to the benignant of product, but was mostly higher for those products similar nutrient with tons of other paperwork and checks required, whereas those for vegetables similar onions, carrots and broccoli, which mightiness besides beryllium connected seasonal availability, was lower.

It said wide that little well-off households had seen bigger terms rises arsenic a result, owed to the information they walk a higher proportionality of their income.

It suggested that 1 payment seen from Brexit was that nutrient producers successful the UK present faced little contention from farmers and producers successful Europe.

But it added that wide the summation seen was outstripped by the losses seen by shoppers by much than £1bn.