Most Voters Say Brexit To Blame For Food Shortages

Most voters think Brexit is to blame for widespread shortages of fruit and vegetables on supermarket shelves, a poll for The Independent has found.

- Adam Forrest

The majority of the public (57 per cent) said Britain's exit from the EU was behind the lack of fresh produce, according to the Savanta survey.

Only one in three (36 per cent) said Brexit was not to blame. The poll also discovered 57 per cent had been affected by shortages while 40 per cent were unaffected.

Unusual weather which has hurt crops in Spain and north Africa has been blamed for UK shelves being short of tomatoes and other fresh produce.

But farming campaigners and food experts have pointed to Brexit for the particularly acute shortage in Britain - describing the idea of Spanish weather being solely to blame as "absolute nonsense".

Cabinet minister Chris Heaton-Harris rejected the idea Brexit had made Britain poorer. "I say no," he told Sky News. Asked for the evidence to back up his claim, Mr Heaton-Harris said his "evidence is we are still a growing economy, we are doing really well".

The new poll for The Independent found widespread public support for the kind of post-Brexit deal struck by Rishi Sunak and EU to end the Northern Ireland protocol row.