Buying British

This was particularly marked following the Cumbria massacre – the Government intends to wait until the police have concluded their

inquiries into Derrick Bird before deciding whether the procedures on gun licences need to be tightened still further.

The same applies to food labelling. Ministers could spend the next year passing legislation compelling the major supermarkets to label clearly produce that originates from the UK as part of continuing efforts to support British farmers.

Yet common sense suggests that new laws should not be necessary when it is already proven to be in the supermarkets' own interests, given changing consumer trends, to promote locally-sourced food – the key tenet of this newspaper's long-running Clearly British campaign.

They will find that their own custom increases if they make a greater commitment to local suppliers rather than sell, erroneously, meat as British when it has, in fact, been shipped halfway across the world before being packaged in the UK.

Having been, partially, successful – as an Opposition party – in persuading the major supermarkets to be more honest about the labelling of their own in-house produce, the challenge for the Conservative-led Government is to apply this approach to the whole food industry and, specifically, the food giants who supply supermarkets.

If they are successful, the UK food industry can, rightly, look forward to better times ahead – celebrated with the finest food and drink that Yorkshire can offer.