THE Duchess of Northumberland has weighed into the pasty tax debate - revealing that her children were brought up on them.

Days after Chancellor George Osborne - the son of the 17th baronet of Ballintaylor - was branded "out of touch" with the public after declaring he can not remember the last time he had a pasty, the Duchess has stuck up for the baked goods and is backing a campaign to axe the tax.

Far from being sniffy about the popular food, she says that Britain's biggest seller of pasties, Greggs, is an "institution".

She said: "Greggs is a North-East institution, a great brand and a successful company which genuinely cares about the welfare of those living in the region.

"My children were all brought up on corned beef pasties and I am proud to support the campaign."

Osborne has come under fire this week after closing a controversial loophole in tax law, meaning that and baked goods served above room temperature will be liable for tax.

Retailers such as Greggs the Bakers have pointed out the difficulties of enforcing such a law, with pasties being left to cool once cooked and fluctuations in Britain's weather making it near-impossible.

Head of Greggs Neil McMeikan said of the proposal: “There’s a scenario where someone at the front of the queue is subject to VAT and the person at the back [buying a product which has cooled down] wouldn’t be.”