Brexit Deals A £3bn-A-Year Blow To UK Food Exports

British food sales to the EU have fallen by almost a fifth since the end of the Brexit transition period, a new report shows

- ARCHIE MITCHELL

British food sales to the EU have fallen by almost a fifth since Brexit, a new report shows, with campaigners calling on Sir Keir Starmer to urgently cut red tape holding back exporters.

New requirements for physical, documentary and ID checks have complicated food trade between the UK and Europe, leading to a 16.3 per cent drop each year in food exports to the EU, the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP) found.

The drop-off has meant a £3bn hit to food exports on average in each of the the three years since the end of the Brexit transition period, the report found.

And researchers found that British food standards in most areas have declined relative to the EU, which has introduced stricter standards including on arsenic in baby foods that the UK has not followed. The only area where Britain has introduced stronger legislation than Brussels since leaving the bloc is animal welfare standards, with stronger laws on cosmetics testing on animals and the banning of live animal exports for slaughter.

Emily Lydgate, environmental law professor at the University of Sussex, which hosts the CITP, said: “We’ve found significant divergence in EU and UK agri-food legislation since Brexit. This is more than just new regulation – it’s also differences in ways of setting and enforcing that regulation. This divergence has increased costs and reduced trade to the EU.”