Cameron in call for British soldiers to be fed home-produced pork

David Cameron told a summit of small businesses that he did not believe a country such as France would allow its troops to eat anything but their own country’s meat.

He raised the issue as he launched measures designed to make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to secure contracts to do work for the Government.

“There is an important campaigning role still to be done in terms of things like open procurement, and particularly food,” he said while answering questions at the Treasury.

“Obviously we cannot break EU procurement rules but I sometimes wonder whether there is a similar situation in France as in the UK in terms of what food is procured for the Army.

“We do not procure any British pork for the Army at all.

“I am sure this is not the case in France.”

The Prime Minister’s call comes in the same week that Graham Stuart, Conservative MP for Beverley and Holderness, said that red tape needed to be cut in order for farming businesses to enjoy success.

Speaking at a farming conference being held at Bishop Burton College, near Beverley in East Yorkshire Mr Stuart praised the work of a Government task force which has been set up to cut bureaucracy, saying that a reduction in regulation and inspection was needed for the rural economy to flourish.

Mr Stuart said that the current Government recognised the valuable contribution agriculture could make to the country’s economy as it sought to recover from the recession, and added that competitive and profitable farming was an important part of any economy.

In a veiled jibe at the previous Government’s trend of placing largely urban Ministers in charge of Defra, he praised the department’s current leadership saying that a team of Ministers was now in place who were experienced in the agricultural sector.