CUMBRIA'S agricultural chaplain has warned Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn that his party faces a 'backlash' for appointing a vegan MP to oversee British farming in his shadow cabinet.

Chris Blackshaw slammed what he claimed were 'highly irresponsible and harmful' anti-meat comments reportedly made by Kerry McCarthy, before Mr Corbyn made her Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

In an interview with Viva!life, a magazine for vegans, Ms McCarthy admitted she was a 'militant' when it came to clamping down on meat consumption.

In a letter to Mr Corbyn, Mr Blackshaw said he was 'astounded' by the comments she made to the magazine, which included advocating a public campaign to stop people eating meat.

He has called on Ms McCarthy to resign from her shadow Defra role.

Writing to Mr Corbyn 'on behalf of the agricultural and associated industries in Cumbria', Mr Blackshaw, an Eden-based Methodist minister, said he should 'seriously consider your wisdom in appointing Kerry McCarthy to the position she now holds'.

He continues: "I am astounded at the comments that she has allegedly made...where she says 'meat should be treated like tobacco with a public campaign to stop people eating it'.

"The reported comments are astounding, especially as it comes from someone whose role it is to look after the interest of the agricultural industry in this country.

"These comments are highly irresponsible, harmful and have a propensity to have far reaching implications.

"The agricultural industry is a volatile market place and comments like this can cause massive damage to prices and the stability of that market."

However, in her speech to the Labour Party conference in Brighton, Ms McCarthy backtracked on her magazine comments, saying she wholeheartedly backed British farmers and wanted morwe people to consume their produce, including meat. She added that she was honoured to be given her shadow position and she would champion the nastural environment and rural communities as well as the British food industry.

In his letter to Mr Corbyn, Mr Blackshaw likened Ms McCarthy's comments to those made by Edwina Curry in 1988 about her belief that eggs contained salmonella.

"This had an overnight crippling impact on poultry farmers," Mr Blackshaw tells Mr Corbyn.

"I suggest that already massive damage has been done by Ms McCarthy's comments and certainly all credibility, in the eyes of not only farmers but the general public, has been lost.

"I personally call for her resignation from her post, as she has already shown she is incapable of working impartially for the interests of the countryside and farmers. By making these comments she has already compromised herself by allowing her personal preferences and choices to influence the comments she makes in her public role.

"This also leads people to believe that any future decisions she makes in her role, will not be for the general interest of the agricultural sector or the country, but in the interest of her own personal preferences."

Mr Blackshaw concludes: "I look forward to your comments, in what I expect will result in a massive backlash on your party."