A Liverpool city councillor has blamed Brexit for empty shelves in shops around Liverpool.
Cllr Tom Cardwell visited three supermarkets in the city yesterday and posted images of empty shelves at one store in the south of the city.
Some supermarkets are putting limits on purchases of some fruit and vegetables as they face shortages of fresh produce. Morrisons said limits of two on products like cucumbers would be introduced at stores from Tuesday. The news comes as more and more images of empty shelves circulate on social media
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The images posted by Cllr Cardwell, who represents the Speke-Garston ward, showed empty shelves in the Lidl store on Park Road. He said this was the third and best-stocked shop he had visited.
The fresh food shortages in the UK have been largely put down to extreme weather in Spain and North Africa, where floods, snow and hail have affected harvests. Others have said the energy crisis is not helping the situation.
But for Cllr Cardwell and others, Brexit must shoulder some of the blame.
Cllr Cardwell said: "I understand the ramifications of brexit on the supply chain and more particularly the disproportionate effect this has on the bottom end of the socio economic scale!
"We need the dynamic alignment that Labour are talking about as a matter of urgency. That only deals with some of the symptoms though. Ultimately we have to be inside the single market and customs union. The impact of being outside on food inflation and food availability are catastrophic."
He said while adverse weather has been a key issue, being inside a large trading area like the European Union means "you are more protected." He added: "The barriers we have erected mean supplies are just not getting to market here."
The National Farmers Union has previously raised the issue of a lack of foreign labour caused by Britain's exit from the European Union, which meant tens of millions of pounds of produce was left to rot in fields last year with no one to pick it. The union said the lack of workers combined with soaring energy costs was posing a "serious threat to the future of the UK's fruit and veg sector."
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