The biggest tariffs on imports from the EU could include cheese, beef and chicken

Supermarket giants have warned the Treasury that a no-deal Brexit would force up the price of the average weekly food basket by as much as 12%.

Senior executives from some of the big four supermarkets made the alarming prediction in briefings to the Treasury on the impact on food prices of a no-deal Brexit.

The biggest tariffs on imports from the EU could include cheese, up by 44%, beef, up by 40%, and chicken, up 22%.

The warnings, which the Treasury is taking seriously, come as it is revealed that Britain’s monetary chiefs have ploughed the country’s foreign currency reserves into euros since the Brexit referendum, in what some are claiming is a vote of confidence in the stability of the single currency.

Figures from