The UK still has access to those markets. The problem is not that we can't import goods, but that there are fewer goods to import and they are being sold at higher prices.

For example, in January, food inflation in France was 14.8% and in the UK it was slightly lower at 13.3% and the OECD rate was 15.2%. It's not a Brexit problem; it's a production problem.

- https://tradingeconomics.com/france/food-inflation

- https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/04/record-133-...

-https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/arti...

It's not a problem caused by brexit; it's just a problem made less severe by zero-trade barriers with the countries you're importing food from.

The UK is one of the most import-dependent nations in europe, and the world; it's easy to give good reasons to suppose had the UK been in the EU it would have seen below-average inflation.

When food starts to run out, governments serve their own people first. This is also true for the EU. If there's not enough to go around, the UK simply won't get to buy any.

That's true, except when food starts to run out, the French government will serve the French people, the Spanish government will serve the Spanish people, and so on. You're nuts if you think the Spanish are going to ship food they desperately need to Hungary because they're both in the EU.

Isn't that exactly what's happening with energy right now? I live next to a hydro plant that isn't even maxed at capacity and my electricity bill is like 8x what it used to be, simply because they "have to" sell energy at the whole EU market because someone somewhere desperately needs it.

People got sold something very different from the deal that they actually got

The inflation for these products came from the EU, the reason why prices for tomatoes went up is because Dutch farmers have been paying significantly higher energy costs (some supermarkets chose to hold no stock instead of paying these prices too).

Being outside of the EU gives you access to a much broader food market than being within the EU.