“Customs Union would mean dearer food,” says former Single Market Minister
Montage © Stand for Our Sovereignty 2026
Burnham’s Brexit Betrayal confronted with the hard economic facts
Reality: +£16bn/year – What the UK makes in trade surplus on just 1 post-Brexit deal
Reality: -£90bn/year – What the EU trade deal costs the UK in net trade DEFICIT
Andy Burnham has said that one of the EU Reset options on his table is joining the EU’s Customs Union. Using the latest official data this report reveals how this would put up prices, cost tens of billions, and ruin relationships with countries with which the UK has successfully negotiated trade agreements.
And all of this at a time when the Chancellor, John Healey, can’t seem to find the money to fund vaguely adequate defence spending – something for which he was personally responsible until recently.
This report from Stand for Our Sovereignty think-tank, with colleagues from the Brexit Facts4EU and The Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIBUK.Org), looks at what joining the Customs Union (CU) would mean for British consumers and the UK’s economy.
“London has fallen” – What the UK’s largest trading partner thinks
To set the scene, the US is the UK’s largest single export market – by a very long way – and Washington is very unhappy with Andy Burnham’s EU direction.
Here’s the top man in the US administration for trade
“Britain has fundamentally failed to capitalise on Brexit… [London is] continuing to align with EU-made rules and keeping its market closed to American goods…
“… I say, ‘Hey, you’re free of the EU. Why don’t you liberalise a little bit, accept goods made to American standards?’ And they say, ‘Well, we have to wait and see what the EU says about it.’ You know, that is a problem for us and that’s challenging.”
– USTR Jamieson Greer, interview with FT, 04 Sept 2026
Asked whether the UK was actively using its regulatory freedom, Greer answered: “No, they’re not.”
1. The EU Customs Unions vs the UK consumer – three examples from a checkout basket
These three grocery examples show the potentially alarming effect on our weekly shop. Live customs logs from HMRC and Brussels TARIC databases expose the hidden, indigestible extra costs built into the EU’s defensive external tariff regime.
- Red kidney beans: Protecting the budgets of British households, post-Brexit UK trade policy dropped the duty to a flat 0% tariff. To protect its canneries, the EU slaps a heavy 17.6% standard third-country duty onto these basic staples. Entering the EU CU would trigger a wholesale price spike for a product found in millions of British kitchens.
- Fresh apples: Out of season, the UK’s imported apples attract a 0% tariff to take advantage of cheap southern hemisphere fruit, which keeps supermarket prices keen and stable. Conversely, Brussels applies a 9.0% base tariff with added cash penalties up to €23 per 100kg when a low-cost shipment falls below the EU’s entry-price floor. Effective tax rate: 45%+.
- Raw cane sugar: Under post-Brexit freedoms, this has a flat 0% tariff via a 325,000-tonne ‘Autonomous Tariff Quota’, keeping imports cheaper for domestic refineries like Tate & Lyle. Joining the CU could add a EU fixed penalty of €339 per tonne, which translates to a massive 56%-72% total import tax that would hit every independent bakery and confectionery manufacturer.
Stable Brexit tariffs vs EU’s tariffs changing WEEKLY
Last Christmas Eve the EU Commission introduced variable weekly tariffs on imported produce. Buyers now have to check before they buy anything, simply to calculate if a commercial profit is possible.
The Brexit status quo: The UK operates its own predictable UK Global Tariff, meaning British supermarkets can import food at flat, stable tariff rates without any weekly interference from Brussels.
The Customs Union threat: EU alignment would force British retailers into a volatile, weekly price-monitoring system, exposing supply chains to significant administrative time and costs. Checkout prices would inevitably surge.
Rt Hon Lord Redwood D.Phil FCSI, former Single Market Minister and former Secretary of State
commented exclusively to GB News, Stand for Our Sovereignty and Facts4EU
“When the UK left the EU Customs Union we removed tariffs completely on 2,000 products or 21% of our imports, and cut them on another 4,747 or 50% of foreign goods.
“We had no need for many of these tariffs because we did not produce or grow the items ourselves. We were made to impose them to protect EU producers at the expense of our consumers. Cutting them was good news for shoppers.
“Today we are living through a surge in the cost of living so the last thing we should be doing is imposing EU tariffs on so many things to put up prices.
“Facts4EU have done a great job pointing out as examples it would mean dearer sugar, kidney beans, and apples. We would be buying dearer French golden delicious instead of cheaper Australian and New Zealand apples with more choice of varieties.”
2. “Burnham’s Brexit Betrayal” confronted with the hard economic facts
The UK’s trade with the EU27 has produced a shocking cumulative trade deficit for the UK of -£387 billion in the five years since Brexit. (Shown in current prices.)
This costly EU trade contrasts dramatically with profitable UK trade worldwide
Why would the Burnham government abandon post-Brexit trade deals delivering billions per annum in net trade surpluses? Here are three post-Brexit trade deals, made possible by leaving the protectionist bloc.
The extra NET cash these Brexit trade deals have generated for the UK
[Data explainer: The signing date is used as the logical baseline because real-world commerce does not wait on bureaucratic calendars. When a treaty is signed, the publicity means the target country is raised in boardrooms and plans are made. While full implementation rolls out gradually, the rise in trade volume often starts before this.]
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Meanwhile the run-rate on EU trade now stands at deficit of -£90 billion/year
Here is the comparison between the CPTPP post-Brexit deal and trade with the EU.
The following is last year’s outcome
Membership of the fast-growing CPTPP Indo-Pacific trading bloc imposes no obligations on members to obey a centralised mountain of supranational laws, nor do member states subject themselves to foreign courts. They simply trade, profitably.
As a member, UK exports to CPTPP partners have grown 25% in five years.
[The data in all charts are from the official ONS or HMRC databases. All figures are expressed in real terms, i.e. we have adjusted for inflation using the ONS’ official deflator for exports and the official deflator for imports.]
The Rt Hon the Lord Redwood D.Phil FCSI gave us his final comments
“One of the biggest Remain lies is that belonging to the EU and or its Customs Union would be good for our trade.
“All the time we were in the EU we ran big deficits. Their laws, taxes and tariffs made us import too much and export too little. Non-EU exports even before Brexit grew more quickly than sales to the EU.
“Facts4EU highlight the continuing run of big deficits as EU rules persist in areas like energy and food.
“Our trade has been expanding well with non-EU, the bigger part of our total, helped by some good new trade Agreements we could only negotiate and sign once out of the EU.
“It would be self harm on a grand scale to dump these new Agreements and sand bag our trade with the faster growing rest of the world. We would end up poorer, importing more and dearer EU goods, food and energy.”
Observations
We’re unconvinced our Prime Minister understands customs unions and trade. He simply seems anxious to please his Brussels masters at every turn. For him to even contemplate the possibility of joining the EU Customs Union which would do such catastrophic damage to the country, when so few UK businesses have anything to do with the EU, is an act of great folly in our opinion.
The EU’s structures were always designed around the interests of its most powerful members on the continent. The UK’s interests were seldom considered. A good example is the absence in the EU’s trade agreements of any mention of services, which dominate the UK’s economy representing around 81% of the economy. Since Brexit, the UK has been able to agree free trade agreements which include clauses on services, professional qualifications, and related matters. The results can be seen in the surpluses the UK is generating with some of these trading partners.
The facts we have revealed in this report bring home the realities. The EU looks after its own interests and if the PM were ever to agree to joining the Customs Union this would destroy the UK’s carefully negotiated independent trade deals, as they would conflict with those the EU has negotiated.
We urge all business people to condemn any suggestion of rejoining any part of the EU’s structures – and to do it now, before any initiative gathers more momentum in government.
Please help us to carry on our vital work in defence of independence, sovereignty, democracy and freedom by donating today to our research-engine: Facts4EU.Org or becoming a Member of Stand for Our Sovereignty. Thank you.
Please support our work
If more patriotic members of the public donate, we will keep going.
Please donate today to our research partner, Facts4eu, if you would like to continue reading us tomorrow, next week, and the weeks after.
[ Sources:ONS | HMRC | EU Commission Taric database ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.