Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of Brexit uncertainty on any decline in retail sales in the UK supermarket sector.

The Government works closely with the retail sector both through bilateral engagement and also through the EU Exit Panel.

This Panel, of which a number of key supermarkets are members, brings Government and the sector together to understand the sector’s issues as we near the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics show retail sales figures for spending in predominantly food stores show a growth of 1.9% in the three months to May, compared with the same period in 2018.

On 28 November 2018, Her Majesty's Government released a detailed economic assessment of the effect of multiple EU Exit scenarios on the strength of all parts of the UK economy. It included associated costs for five broad sector groups across the economy, which together cover the majority of the UK economy and all traded goods and services.