IT’S ABOUT time someone reported the Liberal Democrats to Trading Standards. When it comes to spouting illiberal bilge, the Lib Dems leave everyone else standing.

Next week, McDonald’s is introducing the “Bigger Big Mac” — a burger that is 40 per cent bigger than the Big Mac. Guess who is leading the charge against it? Steve Webb, the Lib Dem health spokesman, is putting down an early day motion saying that “there is no need for a bigger Big Mac”. Great liberal that he is, Mr Webb thinks his opinion, not ours, should decide what we have available to eat.

There is indeed no “need” for a Bigger Big Mac. As it happens, I can’t stand the taste of Big Macs. But there’s no need for foie gras or whisky, which I love. I could just eat celery and drink water instead.

There is equally no need for Mr Webb or his tawdry party. Politics would be a lot more sensible without them. But for some reason the 30,872 people in Northavon who voted for Mr Webb think differently. It’s called choice — even if there’s no accounting for taste.

Far from criticising McDonald’s, anyone who believes in freedom should salute the fact that, after appearing to wobble in the wake of the health fascists’ onslaught by introducing salads, the burger chain is now standing proud and sticking to its purpose: selling burgers.

They may indeed be unhealthy. So what? If I want to make a pig of myself, who is Mr Webb or anyone else to stop me? The real issue is not the Bigger Big Mac, but that we live in a society where choice comes without responsibility.

Because healthcare is paid for through the State, rather than directly through our own pockets, we can eat and drink ourselves into oblivion and it makes not the least difference to us. Far from having an incentive to eat healthily, through lower premiums or holding on to a larger proportion of a savings account, the NHS engenders a total absence of personal responsibility. Indeed, the healthier we keep ourselves, the worse return we get from paying taxes.

Instead of bans on food choices, we need an arrangement where, as Anna Karenina discovered, choices have consequences. We should all be allowed to eat Bigger Big Macs. But we should have to pay for the consequences if we do so every day.