UK Government quietly concedes Brexit will drive up inflation
The UK Government has quietly admitted that post-Brexit checks at the UK’s borders will increase inflation – despite Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s headline pledge to drive it down.
The admission came at the very end of a 1500-word press release put out by the Tory government on Tuesday, which confirmed that the post-Brexit border checks on food products coming from the EU would be delayed for a fifth time.
The first stage of the UK’s new border model, originally set for October, is now delayed to January 2024, with physical checks and other requirements coming in throughout the next year.
In January, when inflation was at 10.1%, Sunak pledged to halve the rate by the end of 2023. In July, the UK’s consumer prices index (CPI) was at 6.8%, the Office for National Statistics reported.
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