McVitie's is shrinking the size of a packet of Digestives because of price increases caused by the Brexit drop in the pound, it claims.

The company said the value of sterling has made ingredients more expensive and it did not want to damage the quality of the biscuits.

A packet of Digestives will be shrunk by 20%, from 500g (17oz) to 400g (14oz), equivalent to removing seven biscuits from a pack of 34.

It follows a similar change by McVitie's in the number of Jaffa Cakes, from 12 to 10.

The company said more than 10% of its 700 products - which include HobNobs - would also be shrunk down.


McVitie's was unable to provide Sky News with a full list of these products when asked.

Image: A quality check at a McVitie's factory in Stockport

Toblerone maker Mondelez cut the size of its chocolate bars in 2016, leaving fans "distressed" and prompting others to urge boycott.

The change to products as an indirect result of the EU referendum has drawn comments from campaigners.

Francis Grove-White, the deputy director of the Open Britain campaign, said: "No wonder the latest polling shows support for hard Brexit is crumbling. The everyday consequences of the post-Brexit fall on the value of the pound are difficult to digest.

"The Brextremists are taking the biscuit with their support for a recipe of leaving the Single Market and the Customs Union.

"They need to accept we cannot have our cake and eat it, or our economy will be cream crackered by a hard Brexit."

A spokesperson for the Department for Exiting the European Union was not immediately available for comment.