Tories target Labour over failure to buy British food

THE Tories will today launch an attack on the Government for failing to back British farmers when buying food.

Shadow Agriculture Minister Jim Paice will call upon the Government to use its purchasing power to back British farmers rather than rely on foreign imports.

He will quote official Government statistics regarding the proportion of orchard fruit such as apples and pears sourced by the Government from British farms.

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The figures show domestic purchases fell from 46 per cent in 2006-07 to just 30 per cent in 2007-08, the last year for which figures are available.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families sourced just two per cent of its apples and pears from this country.

Elsewhere the Ministry of Defence bought just three per cent of its orchard fruit from UK farms, while the Foreign office and treasury used just five per cent and 12 per cent respectively.

It comes after the Government unveiled a fruit and vegetables task force in October last year to work on improving production and consumption levels of British produce.

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At a speech to farmers in Kent, Mr Paice will say: "It says everything about this discredited administration that while Hilary Benn launches a fruit and vegetables task force and urges people to buy British, his own Government is shunning homegrown produce.

"Spending a greater proportion of the 2bn public sector food budget on local produce would reduce food miles and boost the rural economy. But Labour's failure to back local produce is shameful.

"As a first step, a Conservative Government will require Whitehall Departments to procure food that meets British standards of production."

The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) recently published Food 2030, its vision for how UK agriculture will evolve in the next two decades, which contained a pledge to help UK farmers compete for large public sector contracts.

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The Conservative Party has previously outlined how it will work to make sure that public sector organisations such as councils, hospitals and schools made use of as much British food as possible.

A Defra spokesman said new figures on public sector levels of domestic food consumption were expected soon, adding: "The Government has decided to help small, local and producers through the Public Sector Food Procurement Programme which helps them to tender for large public sector contracts."

Mr Paice will make his remarks at a National Farmers' Union function in East Malling.

Sorry state of import figures

The Government's use of British food has been a source of contention for the past few years.

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In June last year the Yorkshire Post revealed how nearly 600m of public money had been spent by Government departments on foreign food.

Data released under the Freedom of Information Act showed 30 per cent of the food used by Whitehall was from abroad with produce from as far away as Argentina, New Zealand and Zambia being served up within the departments.

Little over half of the produce which was used by the Ministry of Justice was British while the Departments of Health and Work and Pensions, the latter of which has offices in Leeds, served no British bacon at all.

However, the Department for Business, Industry and Skills was buying 88 per cent of its food from UK farms.