Britain’s membership of the European Union has increased average wages by an estimated £1,800 a year, economists have found.

Working people in Britain had benefited substantially from the EU in the past 30 years, according to the study, based on analysis by the consultancy firm Frontier Economics.

Since 1986, EU membership has generated £4.6 trillion more trade for the UK than the country would have had if it had not been in the bloc. This represents 27 per cent of all trade between 1986 and 2014, the research found.

EU membership increased the productivity of Britain’s workers and added £1,800 to their annual pay, it said. In London, where pay is higher than average, the estimated boost to wages was an extra £3,100 a year.