GETTY David Cameron has claimed that Brexit would see the price of food go up

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But is he correct? Writing exclusively for Express.co.uk Ukip member of the European Parliament robustly rebuffs Cameron’s claims and draws a few conclusions of his own. David Cameron appeared in the media over the weekend lecturing that quitting the European Union would see the price of food go up. The article and accompanying photograph would have been convincing if not for three things. One, he was wearing a suit while doing the shopping. Who really does that? And has Cameron ever done the weekly shop anyway?

Two, he was in a Spanish supermarket, rather than a British one. So all very nice for him, then. And three, he was making it all up as he went along in any case. He is, after all, a public relations man. The truth is, propaganda about food prices rising if Britain chooses to leave the EU has moved beyond scaremongering to utter lies. A few months ago campaigners hoping to convince British voters to stay in sent out hundreds of thousands of leaflets warning that the nation's annual grocery bill would rise by £11 billion if we left.

GETTY Cameron visited a supermarket with former Labour deputy Harriet Harman

I shudder to think how many trees were chopped down to produce this nonsense by the "Britain Stronger in Europe" group, the mob behind the ludicrous "Ukip mythbusters" leaflet which was junk-mailed into millions of UK homes. I read it and laughed. It was absolute garbage. The truth is that the EU's Common Agricultural Policy - designed to prop up inefficient farmers on the continent - is the very reason why bills remain high in the UK. Research from both the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Business for Britain group have proved that to be the case. In the UK, entirely because of EU policies, beef costs 35% more, turkey 22%, lamb 11%, wheat 15%, chicken 22%, and potatoes 10% - each one of those costs hitting every single family in Britain.

GETTY The EU's Common Agricultural Policy props up inefficient farmers on the continent

Worse still, these costs hit the poorest the hardest as households with less income spend a higher proportion of their earnings on filling the shopping trolley. A combination of quotas, taxes and subsidies all push up the price we pay for food. For instance, New Zealand lamb costs 18% more in the UK than it does in the USA, all because of EU policies. Over the last 10 years a typical low income family in the UK has spent 2% of their annual expenditure supporting the EU's Common Agriculture Policy to support farmers in France, Spain, Portugal and elsewhere.

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On average a family in the UK would save £45 a month on their food bill if not for the wasteful EU policies that affect our food prices. To pretend the opposite isn't just desperate by the pro-EU campaigners, and it has moved way beyond scaremongering. These claims are, as I said above, utter lies. I find it disgraceful that 'stay' opportunists would try to scare low income families into remaining in the EU, where their food bills would be kept artificially and damagingly high. That, I'm afraid, is the truest example yet of the much-talked about "politics of fear" that the 'in' campaigners try to accuse of us 'out' supporters.

GETTY On average a family in the UK would save £45 a month on their food bill