// The Government is mulling cutting tariffs on food imports to help ease rising grocery prices for hard-pressed consumers
// The idea comes as supermarket prices rose to their highest level since December 2011
The Government is in talks to cut tariffs on food imports to quell rising grocery prices after supermarket inflation rose to its highest level in over 10 years.
Kantar revealed yesterday that supermarket prices were 5.9% higher in April than a year ago, and the average food bill could increase by £271 this year due to inflation.
The prime minister 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.
However, there is a split in the cabinet, according to the FT, with international trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan opposing the plan on the grounds that the UK would lose its leverage in trade negotiations with third countries if it unilaterally cut tariffs.
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Meanwhile, Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg is keen to cut tariffs and argues that the UK’s freedom to pursue its own trade policy is one of the gains from leaving the EU.
However, his critics argue that Brexit-related friction at the border is a factor behind rising food costs.
Boris Johnson is understood to have chaired a cabinet meeting yesterday where ministers were ordered to come up with “innovative ways to ease pressure on household finances”.
The ideas, including the tariff cut, will be discussed at a meeting of the government’s “domestic and economic strategy committee” in a few weeks’ time, the government said.
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