David Cameron's claims to be a pasty lover backfire "Anyone who has been on these kinds of visits with the Prime Minister will know it is a regular occurence," he said. It could have been a Cornish Bakehouse. I don't know if necessarily it was even Leeds. The new "pasty tax" has sparked an unexpected backlash, as campaigners warn that putting VAT on hot bakery items will harm the Cornish economy and cost jobs. The row worsened yesterday, after George Osborne, the Chancellor, admitted he could not remember the last time he ate a pasty from Greggs. He was accused of having "lost touch" with the public by the chief executive of Greggs, while John Mann, a Labour MP, said he was the "Marie Antoinette" of politics happy to let the public "eat cold pasty." The Prime Minister today tried to explain that the extra tax raising around £100 million per year would mostly affect big supermarkets and retail chains, rather than small businesses. "If you think about it actually many, many small businesses in this country seling fried chicken or fish and chips or hot takeaway pies, they're already paying VAT," he said. It's about trying to have a sensible VAT arrangement where the boundaries are sensible. Labour leader Ed Miliband talked to the press outside a Greggs outlet in Redditch, where he and Ed Balls made a brief stop to buy eight sausage rolls at a cost of £4.70. He said: "There is a serious point here which is that the Government is hitting people's living standards in every way they can. Not just fuel duty going up, child benefit taken away, tax credits being cut, now even putting 20% on the cost of pasties, sausage rolls, and the Chancellor's excuse? West Cornwall Pasty Company chief executive Gavin Williams said: "It's great that David Cameron is discerning enough to select our traditional and authentic Cornish pasties. We thank him for his glowing endorsement of our quality product and for helping to spread the news that a West Cornwall Pasty Company pasty is the best around. However, what we really need from Mr Cameron right now is not advertising but clarity and leadership. We would have hoped that if he had been rubbing shoulders with our customers he'd better understand the impact that this move will have on them, and our sector and all the great suppliers within it. This is not about the West Cornwall Pasty Company but about the Cornish pasty industry as a whole and as the country's biggest specialist retailer we need to stand up for everyone within it. The firm, which has 80 branches across the UK, said it is estimated more than 13,000 jobs are sustained by the Cornish pasty industry. Some have pointed out the potential difficulty of making sure VAT is applied in the right circumstances.