Chris Grayling predicts farmers would grow more food if there’s a Brexit ‘no deal’ Farmers would grow more crops to stop food prices rising if Britain left the European Union without a Brexit deal, […]

Farmers would grow more crops to stop food prices rising if Britain left the European Union without a Brexit deal, a Cabinet minister argued.

Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, repeatedly insisted that he did not believe the UK would depart from the bloc in March 2019 without agreement. But he added: “This country will succeed whatever happens.”

Theresa May has announced that the government is spending £250m to prepare for all Brexit outcomes, including a possible ‘no deal’.

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Some ministers are said to believe the chance of Britain failing to secure an agreement are as high as 50/50.

“What it would do is that it would mean that producers, supermarkets, bought more at home, that British farmers produced more, that they bought more from around the world.” Chris Grayling

Mr Grayling, who campaigned for Brexit, was asked about a forecast that food prices could jump in the event of a ‘no deal’.

He told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show: “What it would do is that it would mean that producers, supermarkets, bought more at home, that British farmers produced more, that they bought more from around the world.”



The minister added: “Of course that will mean bad news for continental farmers, and that’s why it won’t happen, because it’s actually in their interest to reach a deal.”

Planes ‘will keep flying’

He dismissed warnings that air flights would be grounded on Brexit day because Britain had left the EU’s Open Skies agreement.

“People will be able to carry on booking their holidays. Does anybody seriously think the Spanish government, which would see hotel bookings collapse in 2019, is going to intervene to stop the planes flying? Of course they’re not.”

Mr Grayling also said Britain’s ports would be able to cope with traffic whatever form Brexit takes.

“We have got contingency plans in place for delays around the lorry ports right now. But what we’re working on is making sure we’ve got developed plans for 2019,” he said.

No Irish border checks

Mr Grayling stressed that customs checks would not be introduced at the Irish border, even though it would become a land frontier between the UK and the EU.

“If you’re talking about flows of trade, there is already, for example, a hard border between Norway and Sweden, but actually trucks don’t stop at the border, they move across freely because in today’s world,” he said.

Mr Grayling said negotiations with Brussels were where he “expected them to be” and insisted no one had believed they would be done in “half an hour”.

“This was always going to be a long and difficult negotiation,” he said.

Jenny Chapman, the shadow Brexit minister, said: “This is yet another example of the Tories’ chaotic approach to the Brexit negotiations.

“Rather than planning for no deal, ministers appear to be telling us to dig for no deal. British farmers already work incredibly hard and to suggest that they could simply grow more food is ridiculous.”