The UK could face a butter and cream shortage this Christmas, the boss of dairy group Arla warned this morning.

Chief executive Peder Tuborgh told the BBC that there was insufficient milk being supplied by farmers to make the products.

"The first sign we'll see of [a shortage] is that the price of butter rises very sharply," he said.

Mr Tuborgh added that the milk shortage had come about because producers "put the brakes on" in 2016, in order to compensate for previous over-production of milk that resulted in lower prices on supermarket shelves.

Recent research has shown that the price of butter in supermarkets jumped by as much as 53pc in the past year, thanks in part to the "Mary Berry effect" of increased popularity of baking.

The Grocer magazine found that the price of own-brand butter at Tesco had risen 53pc in the past year, while at Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Asda the price was up by at least 27pc.