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Chocoholics are paying the price for Brexit which has pushed up the cost of their favourite bars by as much as 10 per cent.

The fall in the pound since the EU referendum has been blamed for putting up the cost of imported ingredients such as cocoa beans and sugar.

Lib Dem MP John Pugh said: “Britons are among the world’s biggest consumers of chocolate . Now this Tory Government’s hard Brexit plans are hitting consumers as the prices in the shops go up.

“The Government will be to blame if this Brexit price hike gets worse in the coming months.”

Price-marked bars of Cadbury Dairy Milk, Boost and Crunchie - sold at convenience stores and corner shops - have risen from 50p to 55p while Cadbury Freddo and Fudge have gone up from 25p to 30p.

(Image: Cadbury)

Other products costing more include boxes of Cadbury chocolate fingers, up from £1.29 to £1.39.

While inflation as measured by the Consumer Prices Index increased 1.8 per cent last month, the cost of sweets and chocolate went up 4.9 per cent.

Sterling has fallen by about 16 per cent against the dollar since last June - a boost for exports because British goods have become cheaper abroad. But it also means imported ingredients are more expensive.

(Image: Cadbury)

Cadbury’s owner Mondelez said: “It’s well reported that food and drink manufacturers have been experiencing increasing input costs for some time which, coupled with recent foreign exchange pressures, are making food products more expensive to make. Increasing prices is a last resort.”

Nestle said many of its bars are made in Britain, limiting the effect on costs.

Last November Toblerone increased the gaps between the chocolate bars’ triangular peaks to reduce their weight as a costcutting measure. The UK-only change to the Swiss sweet was made because of higher ingredient costs.