THE Government has been urged to "back British farming" to help feeding the world's poorest in the wake of the war in the Ukraine.

A Commons debate saw Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Tim Farron voice concerns at the impact of rising food prices around the world.

And he called on the Government to prevent “robbing the food that should be feeding the poorest of the world” in the wake of the war in Ukraine and its impact on food prices.

The Lib Dem former party leader said to International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt: “As many African countries depend in normal times for almost 100 per cent of their grain from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, we now find ourselves in the situation where we are trading in the same commodities markets as African countries, pushing up the prices for some of the poorest people in the world.

“Will she acknowledge that, look again at the Government’s cut in aid and put that back to where it was, but also consider that maybe the best way we deal with that situation is to back British farming so that we can feed ourselves and not be robbing the food that should be feeding the poorest of the world?”

Ms Mordaunt said: “Just to put the aid budget in context, if you trebled the aid budget, this still would not be enough to deal with some of the situations that that continent is facing at the moment.

“There is a group in Whitehall that is looking at all of these issues, including food security, both in Africa but also in Ukraine as well.

"Within this there will be also some opportunities for other nations to start being able to supply and step in and fill that gap. And obviously we’ll want to ensure that Ukraine’s food security is looked after as well.”

In answer to another question about increasing trade with Africa, she also told the Commons that the UK’s “post-Brexit trade policy will enable those nations to grow their economies as well as creating opportunities for UK businesses”.

The same debate was told that exporting a chicken leg from the UK now requires "a pile of paperwork" which weighs the same as the piece of meat.

Angus Brendan MacNeil, who is the International Trade committee chairman, claimed that UK exports were “pretty woeful” as they had fallen by 14 per cent compared with rise of 8.2 per cent rest of the world, as reported by the Financial Times.