No, Brexit checks won’t push up food prices

It is one of those occasions when you don’t need to wait for tomorrow’s newspapers to know what will be inside. There will be the usual photographs of empty supermarket shelves, along with the message ‘It’s Brexit wot done it’. Never mind that there are always some gaps on supermarket shelves and that the blockades on French motorways (as that country’s farmers demonstrate their deep commitment to the single market) are bound to impact on some supply chains. The reason for the gaps, it will be asserted, is that from today animal and vegetable products imported to Britain from the EU will require a veterinary certificate. From 30 April consignments will also be subject to physical checks.

Goods travelling in the other direction already have to be checked, and have been since the Brexit transitional arrangements came to an end – what is happening today is that a grace period applied by the UK government has come to an end for EU goods imported to Britain. Food