Britain will become a “beacon of global free trade” and create nearly 400,000 new jobs if it quits the customs union as part of the Brexit negotiations, it has been suggested.

An analysis by Change Britain, a group with the backing of Michael Gove, said that leaving the European Union’s customs union and striking trade agreements with just eight foreign countries will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in manufacturing and service industries.

The customs union allows the free trade of goods between members, but members also have to apply the same tariffs to goods imported from outside the union.