A no-deal Brexit could leave supermarket shelves empty and push up prices, warn leading retailers

The stark messages came as tensions mounted at Westminster over tonight’s key votes on a range of Brexit options with Tory infighting set to scupper Theresa May’s attempt to change the backstop.

Last night at a private meeting of Conservative MPs in the Commons, the Prime Minister confronted ardent Brexiteer Boris Johnson and appealed to her colleagues to get behind a backbench amendment - spearheaded by Sir Graham Brady, who chairs the party’s 1922 Committee - that seeks to replace the backstop with “alternative arrangements”.

But moments earlier, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the 80-strong anti-EU ERG Tory faction, came out firmly against the Brady amendment, meaning it looks set to fail.

On the Labour side, the amendment put forward by backbencher Yvette Cooper - which aims to extend the Article 50 process to avoid a no-deal outcome - also seemed in doubt after Jon Trickett, the Shadow Cabinet Office Minister and a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, warned endorsing it would smack of “ignoring the views of millions of ordinary folk”.

Of course, it is up to John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, to decide which amendments will be debated and voted upon; so there is no certainty any one of the dozen or so tabled thus far will be called.

Meanwhile in Brussels, the European Commission remained steadfast, making clear the agreement was “not open for renegotiation".

Ahead of tonight’s Commons votes, the likes of M&S, Sainsbury's, Lidl, Tesco, Morrisons, and Waitrose signed a letter to MPs, warning a no-deal Brexit would lead to dearer food prices and pose a "significant" risk to the range and quality of products on the country’s supermarket shelves.

They claimed tariffs would "greatly" increase import costs if the UK were forced to fall back on World Trade Organisation rules while potential delays at ports would "reduce the availability and shelf life of many products in our stores".

The letter, organised by the British Retail Consortium suggested the stockpiling of fresh produce would be impossible, stressing how the UK relied heavily on the continent for such produce.

"We are extremely concerned that our customers will be among the first to experience the realities of a no-deal Brexit," the retailers declared.

"We anticipate significant risks to maintaining the choice, quality and durability of food that our customers have come to expect in our stores and there will be inevitable pressure on food prices from higher transport costs, currency devaluation and tariffs."

The letter noted how nearly one third of the food in the UK came from the EU and that at the time of Brexit in March some 90 per cent of lettuces, 80 per cent of tomatoes and 70 per cent of soft fruit sold in the UK would have been grown in the EU.

“As this produce is fresh and perishable, it needs to be moved quickly from farms to our stores," the retailers stressed.

They also noted how it would be difficult to stockpile any more produce given "all frozen and chilled storage is already been used".

Eloise Todd, who leads the pro-EU Best for Britain campaign, said: "It's a stain on this country that, with food-bank usage at an all-time high in the modern era, there are politicians backing a Brexit course that would see the cost of living rise even further.”

At Westminster, Mr Hancock told the Commons Health and Social Care Committee: "Of course, medicines should get priority over food."

He stressed: "We have been through detailed, line-by-line analysis of the 12,000 medicines that are licensed in the UK...to ensure there is a plan for the continuity of supply for all medicines in the event of a no-deal Brexit.”

The Secretary of State said the pharmaceutical industry had “risen to this challenge” yet there was a lot more work that still needed to be done in the remaining time. “But we do have the time necessary to do what we need to do," he added.

Elsewhere, research from Imperial College London and the University of Liverpool suggested Brexit could lead to thousands more deaths from heart attacks and strokes due to rising prices for fruit and vegetables.

It claimed a no-deal outcome would have the worst impact, leading to more than 12,000 extra deaths between 2021 and 2030.

But the pro-Brexit group, Economists for Free Trade, denounced the research, saying it was “Project Fear at its very worst”.

Its convenor, Edgar Miller, said the academics had missed the point. “Getting rid of EU protectionism through free trade agreements and unilateral elimination of tariffs on fruit and vegetables that are not produced in the UK will result in an immediate fall in food prices, as exporters around the globe supply food at lower world prices.

“Food producers from the EU will then have to cut prices to stay competitive; they will not be in a position to raise prices in Britain, even if Britain imposes tariffs against the EU,” he added.