We've all seen for ourselves that certain food items are in very short supply just now. Tomatoes in particular have been hard to come by and there's an understandable lack of enthusiasm for the suggestions from Therese Coffey MP that turnips might be a seasonal alternative.
I asked her about these shortages in supply, noting that she was in fact booed at the NFU conference this week when she argued with the head of the NFU about the cause of the shortages. The NFU have warned that domestic production of food products currently in short supply have reached their lowest levels in 4 decades.
The reality is that it’s currently easier to buy tomatoes in war torn Ukraine than in London, and that farmers have been warning since April 2022 that food shortages were possible as a consequence of rising costs and Brexit trade barriers. No action was taken.
Interestingly, there are no reports of shortages in France or Germany and in fact people have been posting photos of full supermarkets throughout Europe on social media.
The UK government stance on this simply doesn't add up. They blame adverse weather. Well I say adverse weather, my eye. It's a Brexit bonanza, and one which we could have well done without.