Dominic Raab has dismissed supermarket warnings of food price hikes and potential shortages if there is a no-deal Brexit as “bumps along the road”.
Tesco has predicted average rises of 5 per cent – with much bigger increases on some meats – and is stockpiling non-fresh food, to prepare for disruptions to supplies.
Any price hikes would be “very much at the margin” and other future free trade deals would create “opportunities in other areas to reduce food prices over the medium term”, the Foreign Secretary argued.
“We’ve got quite diverse food supply food supply chains,” Mr Raab told BBC Breakfast, adding: “I’m not concerned about either the supermarket cupboards running bare, or the cost of food prices.
“Equally, there will be some bumps along the road if we don’t get the free trade deal – that’s the inevitable consequence of change – but we’ll be well braced and well prepared to deal with those.”
On Tesco’s warning of 5 per cent price hikes, he said: “I don’t think that’s the figure that we recognise” – but failed to provide a different one.
Mr Raab also hinted the trade talks with the EU could continue past Sunday, despite Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen, setting the latest deadline after their Wednesday night summit.
Carrying on into next week – with deadline of 31 December for crashing out of the transition period then little more than two weeks away – was “unlikely, but I can’t rule anything out”.
Later, in a separate interview, the Foreign Secretary called Sunday “a moment of finality”, but denied it was a firm cut-off date – adding one could “never say never”.
He also revealed he had not spoken to the prime minister since he returned from the Brussels dinner, despite being his deputy and being sent out for morning interviews.
