EU referendum: Celebrity chef Mark Lloyd gets stuck in for Europe on visit to Oswestry school

BBC Good Food show star Mr Lloyd, who is a passionate champion of foraging and improvising with ingredients, went as far as saying leaving Europe would be "damaging" to the nation's youngsters and their diets.

He spoke as he called in at The Marches in Oswestry, to help children with life skills and to organise a pop-up restaurant.

"It would be ridiculous to think that our kitchens are only filled with British chefs," he said. "We need an influx of ideas, from areas including the Mediterranean, to move us on. In addition, there are other countries that have an even higher standard of service than we do here, which we can aim for.

"We are currently able to mix with chefs from other countries who come here to work and bring their added skills and cooking methods with them, so we can learn from them and them from us,"

"Most people who come here to work in the food trade work hard, it is just a small minority who take advantage of the system.

"I think it would be damaging for us to leave the European Union which allows us free movement across the union and business trade.

"I feel it is a dangerous time to have to re-negotiate all of those deals again.

"I think we could have better role models than Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage to decide what we should be doing as a country."

Mr Lloyd was at The Marches to help children aged 12 to 16-years-old to value themselves more through their relationship with food. "This visit is not just about cooking," he said.

"It is about leadership, resilience, organisation and to give the children a challenge, working individually and as part of a team to create something worthwhile. I will give them the tools but also enough 'rope' so they can learn for themselves and I will be monitoring the children's progress through video tuition week by week."

"I will be encouraging them to improve their attendance and behaviour, day by day, as well as learn new skills ready for the school's pop-up restaurant event on Saturday, July 9, from 6.30pm.

"I'm hoping they will learn a lot of life skills, even if they never set foot in a professional kitchen again."

Craig Williams, event organiser, said: "Cooking is an important factor in looking after yourselves and others. You can feel a lot healthier if you cook from scratch, rather than getting everything out of a tin."