Leaving will cut shopping bills by £300 a year, says former minister

rise in inflation and the possibil- ity of new tariffs on EU goods – including food – could have the opposite effect.

David Cameron warned families during the referendum campaign last year that food prices could rise sharply. “Because so much of our food is imported, you could see the impact on a typical family of £220 a year,” Mr Cameron said weeks before the vote.

“And when you take all these things into account, all these economic dangers, you really have to ask yourself, ‘Is it worth taking this risk?’”

Mr Paterson, who once served in Mr Cameron’s cabinet and campaigned to leave the EU, offers a different view.

He is backed by John Longworth, the co-chairman of Leave Means Leave, who said: “Brexit will bring huge gains for hardworking British families.

“Many people do not realise that we are currently subject to significant tariffs when importing goods from outside of Europe because of our membership of the EU. The EU has been completely incompetent at securing free trade deals with the rest of the world so Brexit offers Britain a huge opportunity.

“Britain will now be able to secure free trade deals with the rest of the world and get a better deal for British families when they are shopping for food and drink, clothes, cars, electrical goods.”

Not everyone is so optimistic. Nick Clegg, the former Liberal Democrat leader, claimed last year that a “hard Brexit” will send food prices soaring.

He said a row that led to Marmite and other food brands briefly being withdrawn