The Government continues to fail to lead by example on buying British and supporting British farmers. A new report shows a fall in the amount of UK-produced food being procured by the Government and its departments.

The Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative (PSFPI) published a report at the end of February on the “Proportion of domestically produced food used by government departments.” One of the PSFPI’s aims is to “increase tenders from small and local producers and their ability to do business with the public sector”, yet the amount of UK-produced food sourced by government has only increased by 1 per cent since figures were first published in 2007. The latest figures undermine Defra Secretary Hilary Benn’s recent statement that if people “want a strong, thriving successful farming industry – if you want to support the industry in Britain – buy British”.

At a time when many farmers continue to struggle to compete with foreign competitors, the public sector’s annual budget of £2 billion would do a great deal to support our farmers and producers. British pig farmers should feel particularly aggrieved that four government departments did not buy a single rasher of British bacon in 2008-09; especially when their bacon is produced to significantly higher standards of animal welfare than in many European countries.

These figures reflect the Countryside Alliance’s own research amongst local authorities which shows local government also failing to support British producers. They found that only one in five local authorities knew what proportion of food sourced by their council in the past year was UK-produced, with the same number having no policy in place for the sourcing and procuring of domestic produce.