Nick Herbert, the Shadow Environment Secretary, has reacted to official figures revealing that the Government is sourcing a declining proportion of food from Britain’s farms.
"The Government should be backing the British farming industry but its own departments have a lamentable record in procuring food sustainably", he said.
A number of departments don't source a single rasher of bacon from British farms and overall the proportion of domestically produced pork, chicken, beef and lamb being purchased across Government is falling.
"Injecting the £2 billion which the public sector spends every year on food into the rural economy could make a huge difference to local farmers and the environment, but the Prime Minister who talked so much about Britishness is actually allowing less food to be sourced from our farms this year".
Herbert went on to explain that a Conservative Government would require all Whitehall departments to procure food that meets British standards of production, wherever it can be achieved without increasing overall costs. "All the evidence is that local food needn’t cost more – in fact, it often leads to savings", he said.
He also pledged to lead a sustainable procurement drive across the public sector, in schools, hospitals and local authorities. "We’re taking this action because we care about local food and we care about the countryside", he added. "If only the same could be said of this Government."
The figures come just three days after Herbert launched the Conservative Party's agenda for supporting British farmers.