BRITISH PRIME MINISTER Theresa May has said that the UK will not use potential food shortages in Ireland as a Brexit bargaining chip to force Ireland to drop the backstop.

Speaking in the House of Commons, May was responding to Jim McMahon, who asked the Prime Minister to condemn the suggestion that food shortages would be used to give the UK the upper hand in Brexit negotiations.

Tory MP Priti Patel was criticised last week for suggesting that the UK government should use potential food shortages in Ireland as leverage against the backstop.

Her suggestion came after a government report, leaked to the Times of London, indicated that there could be food shortages in Ireland in a no-deal Brexit scenario, and the economic impact on Ireland would be worse than in the UK.

May said that the UK would not use that issue in the negotiating strategy and is happy “to absolutely give that insurance”.

“We want to deliver a good Brexit for the UK and a good Brexit for Ireland,” May said.