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Food prices could soar up to a third if Britain quits the EU without a trade deal, retail experts have warned.

Imported cheese could rise 32 per cent, beef 30 per cent and tomatoes 20 per cent, the British Retail Consortium fears.

About three-quarters of the food the UK imports is from the EU. If no trade deal is reached before the Brexit deadline in 2019, the average cost of EU food could rise by 22 per cent, the BRC said.

Its director Andrew Opie added: “Price increases of this scale will add a burden to consumers already under strain from inflation.”

(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Adam Leyland, editor of trade magazine The Grocer, backed the BRC warning about a Brexit with no deal.

He said: “Mervyn King, the former governor of the Bank of England, called on the Government to brief a ­separate team of civil

servants to start preparing for such an eventuality.”