There has been reporting today that new border checks for EU imports, which will begin on 30 April, could increase food prices.

These border checks are fundamental in protecting our farmers and countryside from the threat of plant and animal diseases, such as African Swine Fever, reaching these shores.

These figures are based on analysis that we do not recognise. Our own analysis has shown that the new border controls will have minimal impact on food prices, with a 0.2 percentage point inflationary impact over the next three years.

Our new risk-based system for border checks has been designed to minimise costs for businesses and consumers – saving traders £520m a year compared to the import model originally proposed following our exit from the EU.

A major outbreak of plant or animal disease could be far more costly and have a devastating impact on the economy, our natural environment and on public health.

That is why a robust and proportionate border regime is vital to ensure we can protect our food system against biosecurity threats, while allowing the flow of international trade to continue.

A Government spokesperson said:

“We are confident in our analysis and our figures which, unlike these figures, have been produced through a rigorous analytical assessment.

“These border checks are fundamental to protecting the UK’s food supply chain, farmers and natural environment against costly diseases reaching our shores.

“Our robust analysis has shown they will have minimal impact on food prices and consumers, with just a 0.2 percentage point increase on food prices over the next three years.

“The cost of checks is negligible compared to the impact of a major disease outbreak, such as Foot and Mouth disease in 2001 which cost businesses and our wider economy more than £12.8 billion in 2022 prices.”

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