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Business news – live: No-deal Brexit fears as food firms call for relaxed rules to cope with shortages

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Ben Chapman
Wednesday 07 August 2019 14:00 BST
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Countdown to Brexit: How many days left until Britain leaves the EU?

Food firms are urging the government to waive parts of competition law to allow them to work together to minimise disruption to supplies in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Meanwhile, the pound remains close to the 30-month low of $1.21 reached last week but is up slightly against the dollar and euro, despite news on Brexit appearing to worsen this morning.

Senior Tory MPs have suggested that the Queen may have to step in to use prerogative powers to remove Boris Johnson as prime minister if he refused to step down after a potential no-confidence vote.

Mr Johnson, whose government has a majority of just one MP, could face a no-confidence vote if he attempts to push through no-deal as promised on 31 October.

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Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of business and economics events around the world. 

Food suppliers have warned that the UK would need 30 large empty warehouses to store even a week's extra food supply and there is currently no spare capacity in the country to deal with a chaotic Brexit in less than three months.

“In the event of no-deal disruption, if the Government wants the food supply chain to work together to tackle likely shortages - to decide where to prioritise shipments - they will have to provide cast-iron written reassurances that competition law will not be strictly applied to those discussions,” FDF's chief operating officer Tim Rycroft told the BBC.

In the markets, Asian stocks were down on Wednesday while European bourses gained in morning trading.

ben.chapman7 August 2019 09:56
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Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, has praised Donald Trump and his deputy Mike Pence for their "warmth and enthusiasm for the UK-US relationship".

Raab says he was "delighted" to meet the pair on his three-day trip to the US in hope of paving the way for a post-Brexit trade deal.

"The UK looks forward to working with our American friends to reach a free trade deal that is good for both countries, and co-operating on the common security challenges we face."

ben.chapman7 August 2019 10:04
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E.On is the latest “Big Six” energy supplier to blame the government’s price cap for plummeting profits.

The cap, which will be reduced this winter, is supposed to stop firms ripping off loyal customers.

The German utility’s earnings from UK retail customers crashed 78 per cent in the latest quarter.

Customer numbers fell by around 200,000 to 6.4 million in the three months to March.

ben.chapman7 August 2019 10:10
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Bad news for E.On today but good news for about 15 million households who will see their energy bills fall this winter.

Annual energy bills will go down by £75 on average for 11 million households on standard tariffs and by £25 for customers who pay for their gas and electricity upfront. 

Ofgem, the energy regulator for England, Wales and Scotland, is lowering the price caps for the October to March period due to lower wholesale energy prices.

Full story here from Olesya Dmitracova:

ben.chapman7 August 2019 10:21
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A handy explanation on how the energy price cap works and how it might affect you, here from Ofgem:

ben.chapman7 August 2019 10:31
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More on disruption to food supplies after a no-deal Brexit from Tim Rycroft, chief operating of the Food and Drink Federation:

“Competition law is important, but in the event of no-deal disruption, if the government wants the food supply chain to work together to tackle likely shortages – to decide where to prioritise shipments – they will have to provide cast-iron written reassurances that competition law will not be strictly applied to those discussions. 

"Without such assurances, any such collaboration would risk incurring large fines from the CMA.  We asked for these reassurances at the end of last year and, despite support from Defra, we’re still waiting. Hopefully, now that Michael Gove is in charge of all no-deal planning, we can make progress.”

Over to you Mr Gove...

ben.chapman7 August 2019 11:04
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The government isn't being entirely up-front about the potentially dire consequences of no-deal Brexit for fresh food and drink supplies, according to a leading academic on the topic.

Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University, warned earlier this week that the UK’s food supply faces levels of disruption “unprecedented” in peacetime.

What does that mean? 

  • The government estimates that half of lorries entering the country will be unable to cross the border smoothly
  • The flow of trucks could drop by a third within a day of a no-deal Brexit
  • Food prices predicted to rise by more than 10 per cent as costs rise and supplies fall.

Professor Lang warns that Britons, particularly those on lower incomes, already under-consume fresh fruit and vegetables, and food banks are not fully prepared for shortages, which could have a negative impact on diets and public health.

Full story here: 

ben.chapman7 August 2019 11:10
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Thousands of holidaymakers have had their flights cancelled due to more technology failures at British Airways.

Simon Calder has counted 86 cancellations to and from Heathrow so far today, including one round-trip to New York and dozens of flights to Mediterranean resorts. A further 10 have been cancelled at Gatwick.

The full report, including details on which flights have been grounded and what you can do if you're affected, here:

ben.chapman7 August 2019 11:31
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Worrying figures out today suggest that five million pension savers could be susceptible to the common tactics used by scammers to steal retirement savings.

Presented with six common scam scenarios, two-fifths of 45 to 65-year-olds said they would act in one or more ways which experts said could leave them exposed to fraud.

The data comes from a poll by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Pensions Regulator.

People should be wary of warning signs such as: pension cold calls, free pension reviews, claims of guaranteed high returns, exotic investments, "time-limited offers", and promises of early access to cash.

ben.chapman7 August 2019 11:38
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Back to potential food shortages after Brexit.

What can consumers expect? Unfortunately, even the food industry, which has tested a range of options to mitigate the effect of massive disruption at Dover, doesn't really know.

Food and Drink Federation boss Tim Rycroft tells the BBC: 

"There will be selective shortages and they will to some extent be random because it depends on which trucks get through and which don't. We think there will be some serious disruption and it will go on for weeks or months after our exit."

ben.chapman7 August 2019 11:47

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