THE dramatic plunge in the pound has been a boon for Sussex farmers, a leading Leave MP has claimed.

Maria Caulfield told The Argus the county's farmers are currently facing less competition from cheap imports and greater export opportunities.

She said the current economic outlook belied the "prophecies of doom" made during the referendum campaign by Remain supporters.

The Lewes MP has been elected to the newly-created Brexit Select Committee which met for the first time on Wednesday.

She is joined by three senior Leave campaigners sacked from ministerial posts this summer; Michael Gove, John Whittingdale and Dominic Raab. The committee is chaired by former shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn.

Ms Caulfield said the committee would “really hold the government to account” and work towards narrowing down what areas of Brexit should be given immediate priority.

The Conservative MP said her two main priorities for her constituency would be fishing and farming.

She said Newhaven fishermen “couldn’t cope” with EU quotas and restrictions but said new policy would still ensure stocks were not overfished.

The former Brighton and Hove councillor said introducing a British Agricultural Policy would be a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to transform the sector and confirmed the government would match EU funding up to 2020.

She said that the country should look to the recently agreed Canada-EU trade deal as an example of a country gaining access to the single market without accepting freedom of movement.

She added there were already countries “ready and waiting” to sign trade deals as quickly as possible.

Ms Caulfield said she had not wavered in her belief in Brexit since the referendum despite the plunging value of the pound.

She said: "Considering all the prophecies of doom before the referendum, the economy has done pretty well and hardly anything has come true in terms of what was forecast.

"The drop in the pound has actually helped some interests though we don’t want the pound to stay too low in the long term.

"Farmers this time last year were competing with cheap imports of New Zealand lamb and had difficulty with exporting and now their fortunes have been transformed simply by having that low pound."

Concerns have been raised that the majority of the committee supported Remain but Ms Caulfield said the initial signs were that all members were now simply working towards achieving the best deal for the country.

“I wasn’t the hardest of Brexiteers and if there had been a better deal on the table, I would have been campaigning to stay,"she said.

“Michael Gove had to think long and hard to come out for Brexit, he hasn’t been for Brexit all his life.”