THE cost of food in supermarkets and restaurants will soar if Boris Johnson fails to strike a good trade deal with the EU, retail bosses warn today.
The British Retail Consortium has urged No10 to agree pragmatic solutions with the EU to allow food imports to pass across borders as freely as possible.
On top of expensive tariffs, if trucks are held up by multiple checks and paperwork, the cost to consumers will rise and there will also be less availability of products.
As tensions build in the negotiation ahead of the December 31 transition deadline, a senior French minister warned that Britain and the EU are going to rip each other apart during it.
French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also said it would be tough for Britain to achieve its aim of a free trade deal by the end of the year given the big differences between the two sides.
He highlighted fishing rights as the largest initial clash point.
Mr Le Drian said: I think on trade issues and the mechanism for future relations, which we are going to start on, we are going to rip each each other apart.
Nearly 30% of the turnover of French fishermen relies on access to British waters.
Almost 80% of all food imported by retailers comes from the EU.
In total, around a third of all the food we eat in the UK comes EU countries.
The warning comes as Britains chief negotiator David Frost will today hit back at Brussels demands for the UK to follow EU rules from tax to government interventions with a speech.
British Retail Consortium Chief Executive Helen Dickinson said: The issue is simple higher tariffs and extensive checks will harm consumers, retailers, and the UK economy.
The Government must set about to negotiate a zero tariff agreement that minimises checks and red tape otherwise it will be consumers who suffer as a result.
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