RED HERRING
EU hits back at Boris Johnson’s claim Brussels red tape is harming KIPPERS
BORIS Johnson was humiliated by Brussels today as it rejected his claim EU red tape is harming British kipper producers - and revealed Westminster is to blame.
The Tory frontrunner berated Eurocrats for laws meaning the smoked fish has to be packed in an “ice pillow” for transportation, wielding a packet of it over his head in a prepared stunt.
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He said the regulation, affecting producers shipping kippers from the Isle of Man to mainland Britain, was an example of the bloc’s “damaging regulatory overkill” that the UK will be free of after Brexit.
But the favourite to become PM was immediately left red-faced by Eurocrats, who pointed out the laws setting out the food safety requirement were made in Westminster, not Brussels.
A Commission spokeswoman said: “The case described by Mr Johnson falls outside the scope of the EU legislation, and it’s purely a UK national competence.”
Gloating Eurocrats quickly lined up to put the boot in to the Brexiteer, who is widely disliked in Brussels and EU capitals for his leading role in inspiring the vote to Leave.
'FAKE NEWS'
Health commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis branded his remarks “fake news”, sniping: “The Isle of Man is not bound to the EU ‘pointless and damaging’ red tape in food safety that we are proud of because it protects consumers.
“A fish rots from the head down. As potential future PM you need to keep a cool head. So after all, Boris, that ice pillow may turn out to be not so ‘pointless’.”
Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies, chairman of the EU Parliament’s fisheries committee, added: “With just days to go before he becomes PM the whole of Europe has been reminded that this is a man whose words cannot be trusted.”
Mr Johnson was handed the kipper by a journalist at a Tory hustings last night, who told him it was from an Isle of Man producer complaining his costs had been “massively increased by Brussels bureaucrats”.
He branded the law requiring ice pillows to be used “pointless, pointless, expensive, environmentally damaging health and safety”.
The Isle of Man is a British Crown Dependency and is not part of the UK or the EU.
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Brussels rules only cover the sale of smoked fish between businesses, and not directly from producers to customers.
David Alexander, head of General Food Hygiene Policy at the Food Standards Agency, said: “In the UK, smoked kippers that are sold online must be kept to an acceptable temperature throughout transit.
“Businesses must ensure the materials used to do so are suitable for the food and the conditions of use.”
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