BEYOND A YOLK
First, minister says Scotch eggs count as a ‘substantial meal’ for drinkers ... then No 10 says, er, we’re not sure!
IT’S the question taxing pub regulars up and down the country – what counts as a ‘ substantial meal’ to allow them to buy a pint?
For a brief time yesterday, it seemed all Tier Two drinkers had to do to quench their thirst was order a Scotch egg.
Environment Secretary George Eustice said the dish would constitute a ‘ substantial meal’ under the rules which only allow alcohol to be served with food from tomorrow.
But, asked about his comments later, Boris Johnson’s spokesman would not confirm whether the deep-fried sausagemeat and egg snack would count.
Landlords accused the Government of providing ‘ no clarity’ on the substantial meal rule.
Mr Eustice also confirmed that customers would not have to go home as soon as they had finished their drink.
More than 57 per cent of England’s population will be in Tier Two, with severe restrictions imposed on pubs. In the harsher Tier Three, affecting more than 41 per cent of the population, pubs and restaurants can only operate on a takeaway or delivery basis.
The Environment Secretary said the ‘substantial meal’ provision in Tier Two was ‘ understood very much by the restaurant trade’. He told LBC Radio: ‘I think a Scotch egg probably would count as a substantial meal if there were table service. Often that might be as a starter, but yes I think it would.’
On the ‘ substantial meal’ rule, Mr Eustice said: ‘The evidence has been that some of the challenges we have had with pubs were where you had large groups of people congregating and actually not maintaining social distancing, they were just drinking.
‘They were more likely to maintain social distancing sat down and having a meal.’
He also admitted that the rules brought in by ministers are not ‘perfectly fair’ nor consistent.
‘The measures we’re taking are all about trying to break the cycle of infection and that doesn’t mean that every rule that we introduce and every requirement we put on people is perfectly consistent or might even be considered perfectly fair – indeed, they won’t be,’ he said.
He also said customers will not have to go home after finishing the final mouthful of their food but warned: ‘You can’t sit at a table all night ordering drink.’
Mr Eustice’s views on the Scotch egg are not the first time a minister has caused confusion over what constitutes a substantial meal.
Before England’s national lockdown, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick suggested that a Cornish pasty would count – but only if served with chips or salad.
‘If you would expect to go into that restaurant normally, or pub, and order a plated meal at the table of a Cornish pasty with chips or side salad or whatever it comes with, then that’s a normal meal,’ he said.
Asked about Mr Eustice’s comments yesterday, Downing Street insisted that the concept of a ‘ substantial meal’ was well understood in the hospitality industry without saying whether that included a Scotch egg.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman refused to spell out the difference between a ‘bar snack’ and a meal.
Pressed on whether the rules permit pints being served alongside sausage rolls, pork pies, or a ploughman’s lunch, he said: ‘I’m obviously not going to get into the detail of every possible meal.
‘ But we’ve been clear: Bar snacks do not count as a substantial meal but it’s well established practice in the hospitality industry what does.’ However Dawn
Hopkins, owner and landlady of the Rose Inn in Norwich was none the wiser.
‘There’s no clarity on it,’ she said. ‘I think we’d get some clarity if we could understand what the meaning of restricting people to a substantial meal would be. If there was any clarity on what that’s all about, that would be helpful.
‘It’s down to everyone’s interpretation and nobody really knows what they’re meant to be doing, nobody knows if they do serve a Scotch egg as a substantial meal if they’re going to get into trouble.’