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A Tory MP’s claim that fears of food shortages here after Brexit should have been used to force the Ireland to drop its border backstop have been described as “despicable”.

It has emerged that former Conservative Party minister Priti Patel suggested that the UK should use the threat of food shortages in Ireland to persuade the EU to drop the backstop demand.

The claims are described as outrageous in light of the suffering endured during the Great Famine - exacerbated by British trade policy - when up to a million people died.

Ms Patel comments are linked to a leaked report yesterday which said that there was the possibility that food exports to Ireland could be disrupted in the event of a hard Brexit.

Priti Patel told The Times that the British government should use the potentially disastrous economic predictions as leverage against the EU.

(Image: Jack Taylor)

She said: “This paper appears to show the government were well aware Ireland will face significant issues in a no-deal scenario.

“Why hasn’t this point been pressed home during negotiations? There is still time to go back to Brussels and get a better deal.”

Sinn Féin MEP Liadh Ní Riada has described the MP’s comments as “despicable.”

She said: ”Not only do these comments reek of desperation from the Tories but it further illustrates the absolute moral bankruptcy that is rampant in the Conservatives when it comes to Ireland.

(Image: Daily Mirror) (Image: Garrett White/Collins Agency)

“The implication of her comment and the reference she is making, given the genocide inflicted on this country by Britain during An Gorta Mór, is quite clear.

“It’s a despicable comment to make and indicative of how desperate the Tories are getting as their aimless Brexit blundering continues to implode.

“The mask has well and truly slipped here. We’re all used to hearing Theresa May’s contrived over-earnestness as she stresses over and over how she doesn’t want to see a hard border but this is exactly what they think of Ireland.

“The Government and the EU would do well to remember that when dealing with the Tories on Brexit.”

Irish Government sources are dismissing the reports of shortages as “propaganda” being circulated by hardline Brexiteers.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the claims by Priti Patel show the “sheer moral bankruptcy of the Tory Brexiteers”.

Former international development secretary Priti Patel has seldom been far from controversy and was forced to resign her post last year after it emerged she was conducting meetings with Israeli groups outside of her brief.