'Brexit reset deal' to hit grocery bills next month - how it affects your pockets

Fruits and vegetables coming into the UK from the European Union were due to start stricter border checks from the beginning of next month. However, thanks to Sir Keir Starmer's Brexit reset deal, these controls will be cut.

Baroness Hayman, biosecurity minister told PA: "This Government's EU deal will make food cheaper, slash bureaucracy and remove cumbersome border controls for businesses. A strengthened, forward-looking partnership with the European Union will deliver for working people as part of our plan for change." The new deal will eliminate routine border checks for certain items, making it quicker, easier and cheaper to get the food into the UK.

In turn, this will gradually work its way down to consumers which will be seen in shifting prices and availability. With the new SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) deal in place, experts believe it will save businesses around £200million in additional supply chain costs.

The produce industry was not a fan of the proposed controls from the start, noting that it would add to inflation, put pressure on food supply chains potentially even to the point of threatening the future of businesses.

Items classed as 'medium risk' including tomatoes, grapes, plums, cherries, peaches and peppers can now be imported without the additional associated checks or fees. The implementation of these checks was pushed back four times before now being cancelled.

The checks on fruit and vegetables were the latest phase of the Government's Border Target Operating Model which introduced checks on animal and plant products last year.

The latest relaxation in trade rules will take place until January 31 2027 as a "contingency measure", according to officials.