Lowering food tariff won't fix cost of living crisis, warns farmers’ union

Lowering food tariffs will not solve the UK's cost of living crisis, warned the farmers’ union after reports emerged that ministers were considering slashing import taxes.

Minette Batters, the president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), which represents the interests of 55,000 food producers in England and Wales, said lowering the tariff wall for imported foods “does not even begin to deal with the problem” of soaring grocery prices.

“Just lowering the tariff wall does not even begin to deal with the problem. It is a very complex problem that needs long-term strategy put in place to deal with the short-, medium- and long-term,” The Guardian quoted Batters as saying.

“It is misleading to consumers to just think ‘lower the tariff wall’ and that sorts the issue.”

Batters’ statement comes after reports emerged that UK prime minister Boris Johnson is backing a proposal to cut tariffs on foodstuffs such as rice and oranges, which are not produced in large quantities in Britain, to cut the cost of living.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, international trade secretary, is said to be resisting the plan, arguing Britain would be throwing away its leverage in trade negotiations with third countries if it unilaterally cut tariffs.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is reportedly open minded about the idea of cutting household food bills, even if it might lead to lost revenues estimated to be in the low hundreds of millions of pounds.

Johnson on Tuesday (26) chaired a cabinet meeting in which ministers were ordered to come up with “innovative ways to ease pressure on household finances” without running up new costs to the Treasury, reports said.

Meanwhile, prices of food and non-alcoholic drinks rose by 5.9 percent in the year to mid-March, according to official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Market researcher Kantar on Tuesday (26) said the rise in food prices over the past year was equivalent to £271 a year for the average household, the biggest increase since December 2011.

The group said customers were increasingly turning towards discounters such as Aldi and Lidl to try to make their budgets go further.