Fury at bizarre claims Brexit will kill thousands because food prices are set to rise

Even getting a deal with the EU after we leave will still push up prices, a report from Imperial College London and the University of Liverpool showed.

A No Deal Brexit was said to have the worst impact, with more than 12,000 extra deaths between 2021 and 2030 than is currently forecast.

All scenarios claimed that there would be more trade and tariffs after we leave – even though Mrs May is fighting for a deal where trade is the same as it is now.

The researchers claimed that bananas could go up by 17 per cent if we left without a deal, and tomatoes by 15 per cent.

And the public would eat between 3 and 11 per cent less fruit and veg, it claimed, which would cause more people to become ill.

Writing in the journal BMJ Open, they said: “A no-deal Brexit scenario could be the most harmful, increasing coronary heart disease and stroke deaths by approximately 0.9% (4,110 deaths) and 2.9% (8,290 deaths) respectively between 2021 and 2030."

Most of the UK's fruit and veg is imported at the moment.

However, The Sun revealed yesterday that Mrs May has privately told ministers she will rule out No Deal.

But the report was immediately rubbished by MPs, who said prices could even fall.

Monmouth Tory David Davies said: "Todays ludicrous anti-Brexit project fear story: thousands of us face death from higher fruit prices!! don’t remember a report from academics saying “EU will kill thousands” when they raised orange tariffs.."

Edgar Miller, Convenor of Economists for Free Trade said of the report: “This is Project Fear at its very worst – a report written by a group of generally junior medical researchers none of whom have any discernible expertise in trade theory or experience in modelling trade flows."

Getting rid of tariffs would force prices down because EU producers would have to stay competitive with other around the world.

The news comes as Theresa May faces a fight to save her Brexit deal today.

She's trying to rally around policitians into backing amendments to save her agreement with the EU – and go back to them to demand some tweaks.

And she could have secured an 11th hour compromise with Brexiteers, promising to listen to their own Plan C for scrapping the Northern Ireland border.

Source: Read Full Article