Tomatoes and lettuce are out of stock in several British supermarkets this week, along with other fresh fruit and vegetables, leading some to blame Brexit.

several supermarkets they have been forced to set limits in the number of items that customers can buy at one time in response to shortages.

On Thursday (Feb. On February 23, UK Environment Secretary Therese Coffey told parliament the shortages were due to “unusual weather” in Spain and Morocco, but it was not immediately clear which weather patterns she was referring to.

Labor Party politicians, among other critics of the current government, responded by accusing Coffey of making excuses for Brexit-induced supply disruptions. The country’s exit from the EU has created numerous problems in the supply chainwith British businesses ranking Brexit as their biggest hurdle last year, worse than pandemic-related restrictions and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Industry experts, however, say rising energy costs are likely the main cause of supply shortages. Due to the war in Ukraine, energy costs are reaching their highest levels in decadeswhich has made greenhouse-based agriculture in Northern Europe cost prohibitive.

Instead, importers are looking to sunny Spain and North Africa, driving up prices and hampering the supply chain. almost helped of all tomatoes eaten in the UK today come from Morocco or Spain.

Quotable:

“It is important to make sure that we appreciate the specialties that we have in this country. A lot of people would be eating turnips right now instead of necessarily thinking about the aspects of lettuce, tomatoes and the like.” — UK Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey. said in a speech to Parliament Labor MP Ben Bradshaw was quick to respond with a cheeky tweet: “Let them eat turnips!”

Brexit three years later, in figures

Four. Five%: The percentage of Britons who think Brexit will be worse than they originally expected.

3: Number of UK constituencies – out of 632 – that still hold a favorable view of Brexit.

fifty%: The percentage increase in UK import declarations since the country left the single market, undermining the common campaign refrain that Brexit would cut red tape faced by businesses.

330,000: The net loss of workers remaining in the UK after Brexit.

5.5%: The percentage by which the UK is estimated to be poorer now than it would have been if it had stayed in the EU.

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