Cabinet minister Angela Eagle told a radio presenter to “get a life” after he asked whether the government’s new Brexit deal could spell the end of smoky bacon crisps.
The environment secretary snapped back at Stig Abell during an awkward interview on Times Radio.
Prime minister Andy Burnham is set to sign a new agreement with Brussels at an EU-UK summit later this month in a move which the government claims will grow the economy by 0.4% by removing trade barriers.
But reports have suggested that the deal will see the UK sign up to a new Brussels directive banning the the use of “meaty” terms to describe vegetarian food, like smoky bacon crisps and chicken Pot Noodles.
Abell asked the minister: “Would you be happy if closer realignment with the EU meant the banning of smoky bacon crisps or the banning of the labelling of smoky bacon crisps?”
Eagle replied: “Oh Stig, I mean really we’ve had EU straight bananas and now we’re talking about banning smoky bacon crisps. I think you should get a life.
This is actually about ensuring that we can do business with our closest neighbours. We’ve got a huge potential growth in our economy if we allow our farmers and food producers to be able to export into Europe again without all the huge uncertainty and the costs and frictions that Brexit brought us.
“This will be a deal that improves that situation and it will enable this economy to grow and for us to have higher levels of prosperity than we’ve had before. If you want to obsess about smoky bacon crisps I suppose that’s your choice.”
But Abell hit back: “I think asking one question is not an obsession. Is this, just to coin a phrase, the first step in the direction of travel towards rejoining the EU?”
The minister said: “Well, what the Prime Minister has said is that he wants a debate about that. But what he’s also said is that the red lines in Labour’s manifesto won’t be crossed in this parliament.”
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