Published: 1:49 PM August 30, 2018 Updated: 8:41 AM September 18, 2020

Liz Truss today unveiled plans to restore the United Kingdom's 'proud status as a great trading nation'… by selling naan breads to India.

The chief secretary to the treasury claimed that it was 'this type of entrepenurial and go-getting spirit' that will enhance the nation's trading opportunities after Brexit.

Truss claimed: 'Selling naan breads in India from a company based in Dunstable would once have been unthinkable.

'It's this type of entrepreneurial, and go-getting, spirit that will help the UK make a success of this once in a lifetime opportunity to reshape Britain.

'We are in a terrific position to take advantage of the new trading horizons open to us after Brexit, and I know that businesses in Bedfordshire and beyond are raring to go.'

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss with naan breads and crumpets. Photograph: Andrew Selous MP - Credit: Archant

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The news was unveiled at a visit to a Bedfordshire factory on the same day that Panasonic announced it was pulling its European headquarters from London.

Truss' comments were seized on by anti-Brexit campaigners who said it was 'like selling snow to Eskimos' and a 'trivalisation' of our deep links with India.

Best for Britain champion and Labour MP Virendra Sharma said: 'The idea that selling Bedfordshire naan bread to India is the ultimate embodiment of global Britain is pretty pathetic. While we have a Brexit car crash around us Liz Truss is trying to sell snow to Eskimos. This government is a disaster and this is the only solution - sell a few more naan breads. That seems to be the limit of their ambition.'

'Our link to India is deep, meaningful and special and this is just a sad trivialisation of it. We need to be working to attract people to our universities are dealing with issues like how difficult it is for people from India to get a visa, not flogging a few more naan breads.

Mocking Truss' famous 2014 conference speech Sharma added: 'All in all - my message to Liz Truss is clear - this is a disgrace.'