Prices for eggs, bacon and sausages are all on the rise under Kier Starmer’s Labour government, an unforgivable oversight say Conservatives.
The full English breakfast is under threat on the UK high street say Conservatives (Image: Getty)
Kier Starmer has hit a new low as his Government threatens the very existence of full English breakfasts. With the price of eggs, bacon and sausages all going up under Labour, anyone who fancies a fry up down their local greasy spoon will be made to fork out for it. Conservative MP Mark Pritchard said it would be unforgivable to take the British staple from the UK’s high streets.
It comes as the Tories called for business rates to be abolished for thousands of high street businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure industries in an opposition day debate. Criticising the Labour government for the state of affairs in these high street businesses, Mr Pritchard said: “Cafes play an important part on the high street, bringing people in.
“Under this Government, mushrooms are up, bacon is up, eggs are up, sausages are up, bread is up, tea is up, milk is up, and therein is a threat to the full English breakfast.
“And there are many things that this Government might be forgiven for, but taking away the full English breakfast from the high street is not one of them.”
Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith led the charge to abolish high street business rates. He told the Commons: “We understand that businesses take risks, create wealth and employ millions.
“That’s why we introduced business rates relief before this Labour Government cut it, and it is why we will introduce a 100% rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, taking 250,000 high street premises out of business rates entirely.”
Labour minsiters blame the former Conservative government for the state of the UK’s high street (Image: Getty)
Businesses have been struggling on UK high streets amid surging energy bills, rising employment costs and business rates. More than 13,000 shops closed a day in 2024, about 37 a day, The Guardian reported.
Mr Griffith continued:”I enjoy a full English as much as I suspect my colleague does. And it’s not just breakfast – it’s lunch, it’s supper, it’s tea, it’s dinner, and it’s the great British pub. All of whom are under threat.”
Labour Communities minister Miatta Fahnbulleh said ministers “absolutely understand the pressure that businesses are under” but blamed the “consequence of 14 years where we have not seen productivity growth” under Conservative leadership. She added it was “disingenuous” of the Conservatives to pretend they had not left the economy “decimated amd said Labour was “taking action to respond to that economic reality.”
Liberal Democrat business spokeswoman Sarah Olney called for “far more urgency” on cutting energy bills to help the high street, including by breaking “the link between gas and electricity prices”. She also took aim at business rates, demanding “more ambitious and fairer measures to replace business rates with a fair new system that can boost high streets and town centres [and] to negotiate a new customs union with the EU, which would cut red tape for small businesses and supercharge our economy as a whole.”
Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson signalled on Tuesday that some high street businesses would be paying less in business rates following the Budget later this month.
The Conservative motion to abolish business rates for high street premises was rejected by 106 to 321, majority 215.
