Labour has been targeting the marginal seat of Chingford and Woodford Green. The Labour candidate Faiza Shaheen is seeking to unseat Ian Duncan Smith. So with Labour canvassers flooding the area in the past few days, this is what happens: there’s a run on Greggs’ vegan sausage rolls.

So much so in fact that Greggs in Chingford Mount was reported to be repeatedly selling out of its vegan sausage rolls – three times in one day alone according to a local Labour activist has been saying.

Local activists say it’s the Shaheen connection that’s helped boost the sales of the vegan sausage roll, and that it is something of a “campaign tradition”. It’s a nice feeling for the candidate to be the cause of an upsurge in vegan sausage roll business with her former employers.

“I’ve been canvassing for Faiza for nine months,” says Niki, a Labour activist and Greggs patron, speaking to Indy100.

“Since then I’ve visited the Greggs and enjoyed the vegan sausage rolls it’s become a tradition for activists, particularly when we canvass around Chingford Mount as that’s the branch where Faiza worked her first job”.

A Greggs vegan sausage roll for Jeremy Corbyn in Chingford

Back in September Corbyn had met the Labour candidate Faiza Shaheen, and together they went inside Greggs.

“Thanks to the staff at Greggs. Splendid coffee and a vegan sausage roll for me” said the Leader of the Labour Party in a speech on the pavement across the road from Greggs at that time.

This does rather beg the question: are left-wingers more likely to be vegans than right-wingers?

Boris Johnson who is campaigning to retain his position at Prime Minister today did have a rather brief flirtation with trying out being a vegan. It did not seem that serious. He certainly looks to be carrying rather a lot more weight these days.

During the Extinction Rebellion protests in London in October, the Metropolitan Police in London were forced to order in large quantities of vegan meals to feed the eco-protesters who had been arrested. Whilst the protesters drew their support from across the political spectrum, it is a fair assumption that the majority would have identified as being politically to the Left rather than the Right.