spud

It is already the world's second biggest spud producer.

She says they had to make do with ham, pickled onions and "a few spuds that my daughter had left over mashed up with frozen broccoli and cauliflower".

Tracy Bush, co-director of Provenance Potatoes in Kent, says poor weather has had a lot to do with the price of spuds going up in recent years.

Cedric Porter, a potato market expert, said the rise in spud prices had been "dramatic".

Cantwell is right to defend the spud against this line of attack.