Tom, 12, Ben, 10, and Abi, 8, the children of Warwickshire sheep farmer Richard Baldwyn. Britain may face a 90,000-ton lamb surplus if exports are banned

Millions of British lambs may have to be slaughtered and then buried or burnt, rather than eaten, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, government officials have told farmers.

This is because UK lamb may be banned from sale to the EU from March 30 under meat hygiene rules applied to non-EU countries. If exports are allowed to continue, they would face tariffs of 45%.

Nearly half the 20m lambs born annually in Britain are sold to the EU. A no-deal Brexit could leave the UK with 9m unsold lambs, with farmers facing mounting feed and veterinary bills.

The surplus will be made worse by imports. In a pre-Brexit deal, Britain has had to agree to take half the 220,000 tons of lamb sent to