Jacob Rees-Mogg has blasted over the Brexit vanity project amid the deepening cost-of-living crisis

The Conservative minister unveiled a dashboard that will allow Brits to indicate which parts of retained EU law they wish to appeal. “Did you know you can’t sell sparkling wine in a plastic bottle?” Mr Rees-Mogg told reporters in Westminster.

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Jacob Rees-Mogg briefs the Commons on Brexit

Jacob Rees-Mogg has been criticized for launching a Brexit “vanity project” amid a deepening cost-of-living crisis.

Hours after inflation peaked at 9.1%, the Brexit Opportunities Secretary launched an online dashboard in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

It lists 2,400 pieces of ‘remaining EU law’ that have been transposed into the UK Code.

In a statement to the House of Commons on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the EU referendum, MEPs said: “Hopefully this dashboard is an opportunity to address hundreds of issues that may seem marginal on their own, but each of these marginal actions will come together, to start a revolution.”

Shadow Europe minister Stephen Doughty said it was “extraordinary” for the government to invite Brits to say what laws they wanted to repeal, as many “wonder how they will put food on the table”.

“The Government’s offer to the British people today is a digital filing cabinet of existing legislation, which the Lord describes in his own words as marginal.

“And while the government plans to cut 20% of civil servants, the Minister of so-called government efficiency in the Cabinet Office is running his own job creation program and creating tasks for them to satisfy his own obsessions.”

He added, “The reality is that gimmicks do nothing to address the real challenges facing the public today.”

Asked by the Mirror to detail exactly how the dashboard will help families in difficulty, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “If a Mirror reader wants to go on holiday to the UK, there is an EU directive which I hope everyone will subscribe to Let’s say we got rid of the insistence that if the bed and breakfast they go to arranges for them to go to the restaurant next door for lunch and gives them a voucher for that lunch, they must register under the package tour policy , as if it were a trip to the Canary Islands.

“And that’s just the cost of offering holiday prizes to readers.

“Putting obstacles in the way of business brings prices down, and it’s the only thing you can do to make things easier for people. It makes the economy more efficient.”

The Tory minister later boasted that despite record inflation, his City banking friends weren’t finding it “too hard to keep up”.

Asked by journalists about the impact of the EU cap on city bonuses, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “The City of London needs to be competitive. It must be open to the greatest global talent.

“Even so, I’m not sure the bonus cap actually made that much of a difference.

“I’m not sure if my friends in town are having a hard time jogging at the moment.”

Speaking to reporters in Westminster, Mr Rees-Mogg slammed an unnamed department reporting just 2% of retained EU law it wants to reform.

He called such a proposal “hopeless”.

“We really want to try to make sure every single one is looked at,” Mr Rees-Mogg said.

“Do I have a specific target percentage? no But it has to be thorough practice.”

Mr Rees-Mogg outlined one type of red tape he will be scrapping, saying: “Did you know you can’t sell sparkling wine in a plastic bottle?

“You might think drinking champagne out of a plastic bottle is awful, but if you want to, why should there be a law stopping you?”