Blog - 20th Nov 2009

Food labelling is another area in which Government has a role to play. Consumers have a right to know where their food comes from.

When I shop in Tesco’s it is easy for me to buy English Braeburn apples, rather than French Golden Delicious, because both are clearly marked, but how can I ensure that the so called “British Made Pork Pie” contains pig meat from animals reared in Britain and not Denmark?

Currently I can’t and that must change. A Conservative Government will close the loophole in the law which allows meat simply processed here to carry a UK or British label. Real choice requires real information.

Let me give you one final way in which we can help the British farming industry. It is by better use of the power of procurement in the public sector. The food budget in the public sector is worth £2 billion a year but Labour has failed to use it to help British farmers.

Did you know that not a single rasher of bacon served to the UK Armed Forces is British? That is scandalous, as is the fact that only a quarter of the vast quantities of lamb, fish, apples and pears served in the NHS are sourced from British farms.

Spending a greater proportion of the public sector food budget on good value local produce has the potential to deliver a huge range of benefits: a greener food chain, improved nutritional standards and a stronger rural economy.

A Conservative Government will move towards a scheme where all publicly procured food meets British standards of production. We are confident that when they are playing on a level field British farmers will win out against foreign competition every day of the week.

Gentlemen, I know that the NFU prides itself on taking a strictly non party political stance, but let’s not kid ourselves. The Labour Party simply does not understand the importance of farming and rural life to our country. It never has and it never will.

In contrast the Conservative Party is steeped in the traditions of the countryside. We are friends of the farming community, not uncritical friends, but friends none the less.

Let me make you a pledge: If I am lucky enough to be elected as the Member of Parliament for Sittingbourne and Sheppey at the next General Election the farming community in Swale will have a real friend in Westminster.