The vote to leave the EU has sparked a clash between sugar-cane importers and farmers producing homegrown sugar beet. Is this bitter skirmish a microcosm of the big battles to come?

Company denies ‘sweet deal’ that will import sugar cane from countries with lower employment and environmental standards.

With inflation set to rise, alongside the cost of shopping and transport, the economic fallout will squeeze Britons’ budgets.

East Anglia’s sugar beet farmers fear an “unjustified and unnecessary” new zero-tariff quota on imported cane sugar could expose them to unfair competition from less-regulated overseas growers.

The government has been warned to abandon its proposed tariff-free quota for raw cane sugar imports because of its potential to undercut UK growers.

Ministers have approved the emergency use of neonicotinoids against the advice of their own experts in a move branded ‘unacceptable’ by environmental groups.

Sugar cane importer Tate & Lyle Sugars, which was very vocal in supporting the campaign to Leave the European Union, is set to benefit from several government measures. / Former Brexit secretary, David Davis, worked for Tate & Lyle Sugars for almost two decades.

Greenpeace investigators say the firm, which also donated to the Conservatives, will be sole beneficiary of rule changes on importing raw cane sugar