On Christmas Eve, the EU Commission introduced variable weekly tariffs on products being imported into the bloc. It means buyers constantly have to check before they buy anything, simply to calculate if a commercial profit is possible.
The British status quo: The UK operates its own predictable UK Global Tariff, meaning British supermarkets can import food at flat, stable tariff rates without any weekly interference from Brussels.
The Customs Union threat: EU alignment would force British retailers into a volatile, weekly price-monitoring system, exposing supply chains to significant administrative time and costs. Checkout prices would inevitably surge.
Lord Redwood told GB News: “When the UK left the EU Customs Union, we removed tariffs completely on 2,000 products, or 21 per cent of our imports, and cut them on another 4,747 or 50 per cent of foreign goods.
“We had no need for many of these tariffs because we did not produce or grow the items ourselves. We were made to impose them to protect EU producers at the expense of our consumers. Cutting them was good news for shoppers.
“Today we are living through a surge in the cost of living so the last thing we should be doing is imposing EU tariffs on so many things to put up prices.
“Facts4EU have done a great job pointing out as examples it would mean dearer sugar, kidney beans, and apples. We would be buying dearer French golden delicious instead of cheaper Australian and New Zealand apples with more choice of varieties.”