Yahoo Finance Hard Brexit 'could mean cheaper food' if UK abolishes tariffs - think tank
Britain should abandon tariffs on food imports after Brexit in order to bring down prices for consumers, a leading rightwing think tank has urged.
The Policy Exchange claimed that phasing out tariffs on agricultural products could bring down prices and simplify trade deals after leaving the European single market and customs union.
Critics have argued such a move could pave the way for British consumers to be left with supermarket shelves stocked with chlorine-washed chicken or hormone-treated beef, which are currently banned under EU law.
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In its in its Farming Tomorrow report the think tank seeks to allay those fears, calling for Britain’s food regulator — the Food Standards Agency — to have the independent right to say yes or no to such products after conducting scientific research on the subject. The report, released on Tuesday, claims this should allow Britain to move quickly past any stumbling blocks and tie up free trade deals soon after Brexit.
“Leaving the European Union allows us to think again about agricultural policy from first principles”, said Policy Exchange director of research Warwick Lightfoot. “The starting point for policy reform must be the consumer.”
He continued: “The EU’s historic reluctance to open up trade in food products has repeatedly stymied trade deals and led to higher prices for consumers and a distorted farming industry. The UK can now lead the world in cutting tariffs and being a champion of free trade in agriculture.”
Policy Exchange, founded by prominent Conservatives such as recently-appointed environment secretary Michael Gove and former minister Nick Boles, has previously called for the UK to leave the single market and customs union. Tuesday’s report claims Brexit is “a once-in-a-generation chance to reform Britain’s environmental policy”.
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Gove has insisted chlorine-washed chickens, which have become a symbol for the different approach to food standards taken by the U.S., would not be allowed to enter the British market under any post-Brexit trade deal.
The report says that food prices rose 14 per cent between 2006 and 2013 and, though they are now falling, remain higher than elsewhere. It blames the EU’s agricultural tariffs, which it says are three times higher than the bloc’s other levies. The report claims that while Britain could maintain high tariffs, it would be “a more radical alternative… to unilaterally lower and ultimately eliminate tariffs”.
The report also calls for British farmers to be able to choose between continuing to meet EU standards after Brexit if they wish to keep selling products into Europe, or instead match British standards and those in international markets outside the bloc.
