David Cameron’s efforts to justify Tories’ move to slap 20% VAT on hot pasties sold by high street firms like Greggs came to a crumbly end when his claims of eating a Cornish pasty at Leeds railway station were exposed as untrue.
Defending the pie tax, the Prime Minister at a Downing Street press conference, pushed that government’s motive behind the sales tax was to bring freshly baked goods in line with other takeaway food.
Trying to avoid the embarrassment suffered by George Osborne, when he admitted that he could not remember eating at Greggs, Cameron claimed, “I am a pasty-eater myself.” He added, “I go to Cornwall on holiday, I love a hot pasty. I think the last one I bought was from the West Cornwall Pasty Company.”
“I seem to remember I was in Leeds station and the choice was whether to have one of their small ones or one of their large ones. I have got a feeling I opted for the large one, and very good it was too,” he claimed.
However, the statement brought embarrassment for Cameron, when it was confirmed that the West Cornwall Pasty Company’s outlet on Leeds station is closed since March 31, 2007.
Later, an aide to the PM admitted that Cameron may have been confused about the name of the outlet, insisting that he eats pasty regularly at Cornish Bakehouse.
Cameron’s humiliation was cashed by Labour leader Ed Miliband, who has often accused Cameron’s government of being ‘out of touch’ with the life of average Briton. Ed Miliband, along with shadow chancellor Ed Balls and treasury spokesman Rachel Reeves visited a Greggs bakers in Redditch, Worcestershire and bought eight sausage rolls for £4.70.
Read about Ed Miliband’s Made In Britain campaign
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