It’s a bit of a storm in a teacup – a teacup you might drink from as you polish off your County Hall sandwiches.

But, nevertheless, it’s created something of a heated debate among local politicians.

Until a year ago, the sarnies were made by staff in Oxfordshire County Council’s Common Hall Cafe. But now they are delivered from more than 50 miles away because a catering firm was able to offer better prices.

Now on the one hand, you can’t knock the council – they’ve done the right thing and plumped for the best quote. But on the other, they perhaps haven’t been quite as ‘political’ as one might have expected. Because the row that has erupted over this decision is fuelled by two political hot potatoes: l The environmental concern. Why use lorries to transport sandwiches when they can be made in-house?

l The example it projects of a council that would rather buy from out of the county when there are more than 15 sandwich businesses already in Oxford.

It might seem like an innocuous spat, but there is some crumb of truth in both arguments.

Best then that the council takes a more considered approach to the issue and looks at its carbon footprint and the very real needs of local commerce.