Keir Starmer has been accused of posing a threat to the full English breakfast as prices for eggs, bacon, and sausages have risen under Labour’s watch.
The PM has been warned he would not be forgiven if the great British fry-up was to disappear from the high street.
Tory MP Mark Pritchard launched the broadside at Sir Kier during the Commons yesterday.
While a London cafe owner told the Daily Mail that he has never taken so much money but earned so little due to the rising costs.
Mr Pritchard, MP for The Wrekin, 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.’
Daily Mail analysis of Office for National Statistics data suggests Mr Pritchard has a point.
A dozen eggs cost £3.38 in September – up 15p from the £3.23 price back in June 2024, when Keir Starmer first walked into 10 Downing Street.
A kilo of sausages will now set you back £6.88, a 26p hike on the £6.62 pre-Starmer price.
Milk is up 2p from 65p to 67p a pint, 250g of teabags have increased by 15p from £2.64 to £2.79 and an 800g loaf of sliced white has gone up by a penny from £1.39 to £1.40.
It is only in the price of bacon that the Tory MP has erred – a kilo of back bacon is now £8.34, down 13p from the June 2024 price of £8.47.
The rises have been bad news for Austin Yardley, 46, second-generation owner of Terry’s cafe in London, which he took over after the death of his father in 2010.
He started working in the cafe aged 14, and currently charges £17.50 for his biggest fry up, which includes: a Cumberland sausage, fried egg, bacon, bubble and squeak, black pudding, baked beans, grilled tomatoes, and mushrooms.
Although he admits the price is higher than he would like to charge, he told how the cost of food from suppliers surged 10 per cent overnight following Rachel Reeves’s tax-grabbing Budget last year.
He buys produce from local and British suppliers, and said the price for a kilo of sausages had risen from £6.50 to £7.50 in the last year, with bacon now £11 compared to £9.
‘Even with the high demand I struggle to make a profit,’ he told the Daily Mail.
Mr Yardley believes the good quality English fry-up is undervalued and said he regularly receives reviews from customers complaining about the price.
‘I bumped into another owner the other day and he asked me how business was and I told him I had never taken so much money and earned so little,’ he said.
He added: ‘I don’t want to be known as the cheapest breakfast in London, I want to be known for the quality, and quality doesn’t come cheap.’
The rise in the cost for the breakfast staples saw Mr Yardley levy a £1 increase across the whole menu, but he warned he is already going to have to hike prices again in the new year.
Austin Yardley, 46, took over the reins of Terry’s cafe in London in 2010 following the death of his father
Asked if he is worried whether the Chancellor’s impending Budget may increase costs further, he said: ‘No, I have to roll with the punches.
‘I’m grateful for the business. My dad left a legacy and I’ve created a legacy of my own. I’ve put my heart and soul into the business and I will continue to do so.’
It comes as the Tories called for the abolition of business rates for thousands of retail, hospitality and leisure premises on the high street, during an opposition day debate.
Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith 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.’
Businesses have sounded the alarm over rising costs in recent months, with some smaller firms facing closure because of surging energy bills, higher employment costs and business rates, the Conservatives said.
In response to Mr Pritchard’s warning, Mr Griffith said: ‘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.’
‘The Works’ is Terry’s cafe’s biggest breakfast and priciest at £17.50. Although Mr Yardley said he’s charging than he would like, he believes a quality brekkie is undervalued
Communities minister Miatta Fahnbulleh said ministers ‘absolutely understand the pressure that businesses are under’.
‘That pressure did not happen overnight, they are the consequence of 14 years where we have not seen productivity growth. They are the consequence of 14 years where the economy hasn’t grown,’ she said.
‘Now we understand the economic reality, and we are taking action to respond to that economic reality.’
Ms Fahnbulleh added that it was ‘disingenuous’ of the Conservatives to pretend they had not left the economy ‘decimated’.
Sarah Olney, the Liberal Democrats’ business spokeswoman, 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 added: ‘We call for bolder, 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.’
Earlier on Tuesday, Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson signalled that some high street businesses would be paying less in business rates following the Budget later this month.
Speaking at Treasury questions, Liberal Democrat MP Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) said: ‘Recent research by the British Retail Consortium and UK Hospitality has shown that 120,000 high street jobs are potentially at risk as a result of proposed changes to business rates next April.
‘Could the Chancellor and ministers confirm that the forthcoming Budget will support my 250 local retail businesses through a meaningful reduction in rates and ensure that no shop pays more?’
Mr Tomlinson said: ‘We will be introducing permanently lower rates for those businesses in the Budget.’
A Conservative motion to abolish business rates for high street premises was rejected by 106 to 321, majority 215.
